I really liked the book - this movie is reasonably faithful and has a great cast. How did it go so wrong? For me the main problem was it didn't capture the spirit of the book. The mood of suicide and hopelessness, enlivened by humour, has pretty much evaporated. Sure they talk about it every now and then but you never feel anyone means it.
The cast of names actually aren't, in the long run, that well cast - I'm aware Pierce Brosnan has suffered pain in his life, but he's too stiff and self contained an actor to access sadness and despair in the way, say, Bill Nighy or even Hugh Grant could have done. Imogen Poots' wacky girl is just plain irritating - surely there were better people out there. Toni Collette has played drab sad sacks too often and there's no sense of genuine pain. Ditto Aaron Paul.
Maybe I'm being unfair on the actors - all have done excellent work at some time in their careers. And every now and then in quiet moments you get a glimpse of what this film could be: Collette and her disabled son, Poots being jealous over a girl interested in Paul.
But far too often scenes play out like clunky scenes on stage; endless moments of the characters running around together being wacky (dancing, going swimming). There is too much emphasis on the gag line (usually from Poots) and talk about the media (the main "plot" involve the four being temporarily famous) rather than genuine emotion; the film feels afraid of suicide - you never for one moment think any of them are going to do it.. Hornby's voice is badly missed. It's poorly directed and put together.
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