This review may contain spoilers.

its hard to make a movie based off of a book. you have much less artistic freedom, and with a book as complex as this one, there is a lot of important decisions to be made regarding what to leave out.

that said, the basic story arc involving the dangers of lust remained skillfully intact, but the sacrifices of characters and plot points (mrs. ralph, the world according to bensenhaver) had me feeling less connected to the movie characters than i felt while reading the book.

the added scene of the shooter in the first act seemed unnecessary, and lessend the impact of jenny’s killing. the addition of the “i want to fly like dad” was an interesting addition. i enjoyed the animated portion near the beginning, and that gave some added insight into garp’s imagination. however, it added a classic hollywood closure to an ending that could have been much better off as one that leaves the viewer raw.

i really enjoyed robin williams portrayal of garp (although they really should have gotten another actor for the teen version of him. williams is incredible but he just didn’t look 17) as a struggling but grateful father, and his grief seemed incredibly palpable at times. john lithgow and glenn close both gave sincere and caring performances, and swoosie kurtz added some real humanity to the role of the hooker.

overall, this movie is one that tries to go through a complicated life in two hours, but was full of very genuine and true moments.