You Can't Please Everyone - A River Runs Through It
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 12:02AM 
Cynical-C Blog has a regular feature where they post one star Amazon reviews of classic movies, music and literature. So we looked up everyone's favorite fly fishing movie and sure enough there are a number of people who did not appreciate the film... 5 to be exact. What follows are 3 of the 5 cut and pasted word for word for your reading pleasure.
- I cant believe that Ive only found one bad review of this film on the whole internet. Have you all gone mad? Apart from the beauty of Brad Pitt and the Montana scenery, this is one of the most disappointing badly made and boring films I have seen since "Independance Day"! Deeply irritating, very bad continuity, (eg scenes where his clothes are all wet and the next minute totally dry) AWFUL mawkish script - particularly the narration - and Im sorry to all of those out there who like this self-indulgent and grossly over-rated film, but Im pretty pissed off Ive just wasted 2 hours of my day. I would have given it no stars if the form field had let me.
- If there was somthing for NO stars, I would rate it that. This is the worst movie I have ever seen. It's beyond boring, there is no climax at all. The movie just drags on about some guy and his family. Hell, if this is such a great hit, maybe my dog can star in the sequel.
- the movie is fine but before i purchased it i read the description and it says that the movie has subtitles in spanish and the true is that IT DOESN'T!
Reader Comments (13)
Read the book. Then your option of the movie will go way, way down. The writting will take your breath away. Thank God I read the story before the movie came out.
Its about a bunch of drunks and then one gets beat to death. big deal.
Books are always better than the movies but the movie was pretty good. It just goes to show you can't please everyone.
Wait, isn't that the one that Jason Borger did al the casting in? I think I saw that once...
Its sounds like the author of these reviews took his lack of Fishing skills out on a movie. However, I have been trying like hell to learn to shadow cast with no luck.
A story about brothers... but it does hit some emotions of everyone because it ties an entire family together. Yes I read the book first and saw it with My father while his brother was dying with cancer. So there are some memories that bring it close. A decent story well told as movies go and pretty true to the original. Oh and it is the one blockbuster with Fly Fishing. It is good that thee is only one major film with Fly Fishing - Keeps the rest of the folks watching Baseball and playing golf.
Some feel "The Movie" ruined fly fishing...
It drove herds of "yuppies" into Orvis stores for complete outfits.
Streams became overcrowded. Fly fishing became the cool thing to do, rather than some
unaccessable thing your grandfather did.
That's the worst backcast I've ever seen
No subtitles in Spanish? WTF?
Screw A River Runs Through It, read David James Duncan's The River Why just in time to watch the movie due to be released this year. Way better than RRTI and it even has nudity! Amber Heard will sock our rocks off as she plays the role of the beautiful Eddy. Check it out, you won't be disappointed!
I agree with Pisco and with the first reviewer quoted in the post. The book is lovely. The movie is dreck, both as an adaptation and as a movie. Norman Maclean's son-in-law (who was one of my professors in grad school, around the time the movie was released) told me that Maclean didn't much care for movies and wasn't especially happy about having his book made into one, and that this is why the movie wasn't made until after Maclean died. He'd certainly have been mortified with the result.
I agree with Pisco- that movie single-handedly did for (to) flyfishing what "Animal House" did for the Greek system on college campuses...it made it "cool"..... and then everyone and their pet monkey suddenly wanted a Winston 4 wt grass rod.
That said, Norm MacLean's story is beautiful, and I can even forgive the movie both for being relatively bad and ultimately for flooding our rivers and our sport with douchebags.
I disagree that The River Why is a better book; just different. MacLean's book is "old school" writing; he was an old man looking back to a different time-period when he wrote it. Duncan's book was a different style (kind of like Robert James Waller with a fly rod) and was also great. Bring on more good writing.
Accept the fact that your wives and girlfriends will always like Brad Pitt better than you... Especially when you come home after a day of beef jerky and waders.