Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is a successful novelist who is growing weary of his main character, Misery Chastain. Although she has been the focus of a hugely popular series of novels, Paul wishes to ‘retire’ the character and focus on writing something more personal. After finishing the final words of his latest book, Paul sets out from his winter lodge and begins the drive back to civilization. Let’s just say he doesn’t make it.
Based on the fantastic novel by Stephen King, Misery is just as good a film. When Sheldon is rescued from a car crash by his ‘number one fan’, we begin to understand what the movie is really about. Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) loves Paul’s novels with a passion. Unfortunately, it’s pretty evident that she’s also a few sandwiches shy of a picnic and that – now that he’s in her possession – Paul’s got some trouble. Annie is an ex-nurse, and she goes about assisting Paul in his ‘rehabilitation’. You see, both his legs are broken, and Annie is getting progressively… odder.
You’d think a movie centred on two characters in one room wouldn’t offer much in the way of excitement, but then I’d guess you haven’t seen this one. As it begins to dawn on Paul that help isn’t on its way, Misery takes on a sense of claustrophobic urgency. You’ll be yelling at the screen, trying to help him escape. And as Annie spirals slowly into increasingly dangerous insanity, things begin to look more and more bleak for Paul.
Directed by Rob Reiner, there aren’t many missed opportunities here; a scene in which Paul attempts an escape while Annie is away from the house will leave you sweating, and there’s a great sequence in which Paul hatches a plan to poison his captor. Reiner establishes a sense of isolation perfectly, with Annie’s house appearing homey and warm in one scene, and terrifying and dark in the next. And I won’t even get into the now classic scene in which Paul gets ‘hobbled’.
Bates deservedly took home an Oscar for her performance as Annie, and Caan is wonderful in what must have been a tough role to play, since he spends most of it covered by casts and lying in bed. In an entertaining subplot, Richard Farnsworth and Frances Sternhagen play the town sheriff and his crotchety wife, who slowly figure out where Paul might be. Lauren Bacall is cool as Paul’s editor and the late great character actor J.T. Walsh shows up for one scene as a state trooper.
Misery might have been King’s version of Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories: a message to his fans that things can’t always be the way they want and that writers cannot always keep on endlessly producing the same material. King has mentioned that he wrote Misery in response to fans complaining about him getting away from his ‘older, scarier stuff’. Well, if this is the result of King getting away from the ‘scarier stuff’, then I’m all for it. Annie Wilkes is infinitely more terrifying than a haunted car or a rabid dog, anyway.
A brilliantly crafted and scary horror movie. Kathy Bates and James Caan are perfect nemeses and the movie as a whole is a tight, creepy and well-made package.- Scott Weinberg
