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Based on the chilling bestseller by Stephen King,
Misery was brought to the screen by director Rob Reiner as one of the most effective thrillers of the 1990s. From a brilliant adaptation by screenwriter William Goldman, Reiner turned King's cautionary tale of fame and idolatry into a mainstream masterpiece of escalating suspense, translating King's own experience with obsessive fans into a frightening tale of entrapment and psychotic behavior. Kathy Bates deservedly won an Academy Award for her performance as Annie Wilkes, an unbalanced devotee of romance novels written by Paul Sheldon (James Caan), whose books provide Annie with a much-needed escape from her pathetic life and her secret, violent past. After Annie rescues the injured Sheldon from a car accident, she seizes the opportunity to nurse her favorite writer back to health, but her tender loving care soon turns to terrorism as she demands that Sheldon write his latest novel according to her wish-fulfillment fantasies. From this point forward,
Misery percolates to a boil as equal parts mystery, thriller, and cleverly dark comedy, with the helpless author pitched in deadly warfare against his number one fan. While Bates carefully modulates her role from doting kindness to sympathetic loneliness and finally to horrifying ferocity, Caan is equally superb as the celebrated author who must literally write for his life. It's essentially a two-actor film, but Richard Farnsworth and Lauren Bacall are excellent in supporting roles as they investigate the writer's mysterious disappearance. Frightening, funny, and totally irresistible,
Misery was such a hit that some of Bates's dialogue entered the popular lexicon (particularly her nagging reference to Caan as "Mister Man"), and its nail-biting thrills remain timelessly intense.
--Jeff Shannon
Review
A stark departure from director Rob Reiner's nostalgic coming-of-age tales Stand By Me (1986) and When Harry Met Sally (1989), Misery (1990) adeptly juggled agonizing suspense with cartoonish freakishness. Based on a Stephen King story, the film was generally well-liked by both audiences and critics, though it doesn't strive for the depth of Martin Scorsese's similar The King of Comedy. It does, however, allow for a restrained but offbeat performance from the previously little-known character actress Kathy Bates. Her compellingly deranged Annie is the film's centerpiece, and she won an Academy Award for her work. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
