Based on the book the same name by John Steinbeck, “Of Mice And Men” is perhaps a perfect adaptation of the book as both left me underwhelmed. I get the subtle messages and the themes but for me, neither conveys them particularly well.

In “Of Mice And Men”, two friends, George (Gary Sinise “Forrest Gump”, “Apollo 13”) and Lennie (John Malkovich “In The Line of Fire”, “Being John Malkovich”), are looking for work during the 1930s depression. They find work on a ranch but Lennie’s mental handicap gets him into some deep trouble and George may not be able to get him out of it.

Gary Sinise is quite dull as George to say the least and that’s a real shame but maybe the guy felt overworked seen as how he directed it as well. John Malkovich’s performance seems somewhat exaggerated and therefore becomes more amusing than anything else. The other characters feel very dull as well even though the cast includes Joe Morton (“Terminator 2: Judgement Day”). The issue is because the story is so focused on the characters so if you’re not interested in them then the film doesn’t really work and that’s a real shame. If it had better characters then maybe some of the messages would be conveyed a lot better.

I really like some of the underlying themes in this film but like I said, they’re just not done well and they feel somewhat hard to access when you met with a barrage of disappointing characters. It’s a real shame I can’t see this done justice in print or on screen because this really seems like a setup that could easily work as either. However, both seem so basic and it shrouds things because of this. If you liked the book then you’ll probably enjoy the film but otherwise skip it.