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Misery (1990)
By the time the late, great Rob Reiner made Misery in 1990, his directorial hot streak had turned molten. (That hot streak, in chronological order: This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally…, Misery and A Few Good Men.)
And though it’s odd to say about such a sinister thriller, Misery is Reiner at his most effortless. His economical, actor-first storytelling wouldn’t dream of gilding the poison lily that is Kathy Bates exploding (“Anyway, here’s your close-up, Kathy; go to town”) or adding extra moodiness to Stephen King’s prescient source material on toxic fandom.
Misery centers on a novelist (James Caan) getting rescued from a near-fatal car wreck by an obsessive reader (Bates). Rather quickly, his recovery bed becomes a prison.
Just by letting Paul (Caan) and Annie (Bates) interact scene after scene with workmanlike patience, Reiner manages to mine a memorable relationship from a rather mean story.
Sure, it’s not as though Annie and Paul really had something—romantic or spiritual. But the way they’d swap power based on the conversation topic, hit rock bottom in front of each other, and match wits every single day that Paul was Annie’s guest…
Well, maybe they did have something. Hollywood Theatre, March 6.
Also Playing:
5th Avenue: An Angel at My Table (1990), March 6–8. Academy: Magnolia (1999), Days of Heaven (1978), Ace in the Hole (1951), March 4 and 5. Charlie’s Angels (2000), Network (1976) and Mothra (1961), March 6–10. Cinema 21: The Letter (1940), March 7. Cinemagic: Little Shop of Horrors (1986), March 6, 8 and 9. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), March 7 and 9. Van Helsing (2004), March 7 and 10. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), March 8 and 10. Clinton: Old Joy (2006), March 5. Wendy and Lucy (2008), March 6. Meek’s Cutoff (2010), March 7. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), March 7. Hollywood: Torque (2004), March 4. A New Love in Tokyo (1994), March 5. Stop Making Sense (1984), March 7. King Creole (1958), March 7 and 8. The Red Spectacles (1987), March 8. The Love Witch (2016), March 9. Seven Grandmasters (1977), March 10. Tomorrow: Rock ’n’ Roll High School (1980), March 6.
