When discussing the film adaptations of Stephen King’s novels, people often mention “Misery”. I went into this film with very high expectations but was left bitterly disappointed. It’s not a terrible film but some of the performances just drained the material of the tension.

Paul Sheldon (James Caan “Bottle Rocket”, “The Godfather”) is the successful author behind the “Misery” books. Wanting to move away from the popular series, he decides to write something new but ends up in a horrific car accident when travelling to his publisher. He is rescued by Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates “Titanic”), an obsessive fan with a mean temper.

James Caan does a good job as a humble writer that finds himself in every famous person’s worst nightmare. The scenes with just Caan are the best in the film. My most significant problem with this film is the performance from Kathy Bates. It’s often cited as one of the great thriller performances but to me, it just comes across as overdone. Bates’ acting transforms Annie Wilkes from a genuinely disturbing character to a cartoon caricature of a psychopath. The other performances are not very good and I really did care for Sheriff Buster (Richard Farnsworth “The Straight Story”). We get a lot of screen-time with him but the pay-off is incredibly poor.

“Misery” should have been terrifying but instead it comes across as a little cheesy. I do not get why people were so impressed with the performance from Bates. I have seen plenty of other films including “Psycho”, “Cape Fear” and “A Clockwork Orange” that present much more chilling villains than this. Maybe I’m wrong but I do not think that this is one of the better Stephen King movies out there. Try “The Shining” if you want something disturbing, “The Green Mile” if you want something moving or “Maximum Overdrive” if you want to laugh.