Of Mice and Men

     Based on a 1937 novel, "Of Mice and Men" tells the story of two men who wander around the country during the Depression. I'd like to make clear that the film has no action, no suspense and nothing really exiting; It's just the story as it is. I haven't -and probably never will- read the novel, but my guess is the film stayed faithful to the book, the screenwriter probably did no attemps to change the story as it's told in the book; this could have been a theatrical play even.

George (Gary Sinise) is a normal guy, a bit quiet, smart, just looking for a way to make his life. He walks around with Lenny (John Malkovich), a retarded cousin that he has been taking care of for a while; Lenny is pretty dumb and can get into troubles esily, but he's a big guy and it's pretty good at work, since he's unusually strong and can lift a lot of weight.

They got to a farm that seems like a good place to work, and they got hired. The bosse's son, Curly (Casey Siemaszko), is the kind of guy that's always looking for trouble, so people have to be careful with his wife, whose name is never revealed in the film. Curly's wife (Sherilyn Fenn) seems to get bored all day long, so she likes to stop by the working place sometimes and talk to the men. George tells Lenny to stay away from her, since she could cause some serious trouble. George and Lenny's dream is to have their own farm one day, with their own animals and everything; Lenny is pretty anxious to take care of rabbits, and he keeps asking George to describe what that place will be like.

I think Sinise did a good job directing this film, some scenes were truly deep, specially the last one. I think Sinise was pretty good as George, but it was Malkovich as Lenny who gave the most amazing performance in the film, and definitely one of his best. He manages to make Lenny look so harmless and innocent, you just couldn't imagine him being mean. Ray Walston as the old man Candy was pretty good, and so was Mrs. Fenn and the rest of the cast.

At some points the film seemed a bit too slow paced, maybe they should have shaved off some 15 minutes or so, but still, this was done pretty nicely. A very touching story that needs to be seen by people who have never heard of it before. I think even the people who have read the book should take a look at this, just to see how it was adapted to the screen and to remember how nice this story is. Now that you might be aware of what this is, if this is your kind of film, don't miss it.

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