Movies that Are Better Than the Book

This discussion is one of my favorite party and date conversation starters. It's a rare thing when a film adaptation of a novel or short story is better than the book on which it was based, so when it does happen, it is certainly worth discussing. The majority of my choices are recent films, since I started really paying attention to movies somewhere around 1996. Possibly even later than that.

Add your suggestions for the list or why you think I'm totally off base in the comments section at the bottom.

Children of Men: Based on a book of the same name by P.D. James and directed by Alfonso Cuaron, a few key changes make the drama of the movie more immediate and effective than the book. Interestingly, the movie did not feature a love affair and eschewed the book's less clean-cut, anti-heroic ending for a hopeful, if mixed, success. A gorgeous, silent moment like the one in the movie when Owen carries the newborn baby out of the bombed-out apartment building would have been impossible to convey in words regardless of how talented a writer James is.

Fight Club: Chuck Palahniuk's short story-turned-novel about disillusionment with comfortable modern life wasn't immensely popular until Jim Uhls and director David Fincher's 1999 movie adaptation had an immediate cult following. The violence in the movie was slightly easier to stomach than the violence in the book, and Palahniuk writes very male-friendly novels that translate well to guy bonding moments on the big screen. The twist ending made for good visual flashbacks and female viewers additionally attracted by Brad Pitt's frequent shirtlessness.

The Devil Wears Prada: Thanks to the inimitable Meryl Streep, a terrible piece of chick lit became an entertaining movie. Her Miranda Priestly had more depth and sympathy than the evil cardboard cutout did in the book. Emily Blunt as the first assistant was deliciously bitchy, rather than just a hag and Anne Hathaway looked amazing in all of the beautiful designer clothes, jewelry, and coats the costume designers dressed her in.

The Princess Bride: An excellent book William Goldman, published in 1973, it was adapted into a movie by Rob Reiner in 1987. The novel is a cheeky, clever sendup/tribute fairy tale with a plot that is exactly the same as the movie's. Yet, the director, in his wisdom, left out most of the overt cuteness and maintained a sincere tone and love for magic in the story and in doing so created timeless characters and one of the best movies of the 80's. A classic that will remain so if only for the immortal lines ("Inconceivable!"), and adorableness of young Fred Savage.

Jaws: I haven't read Jaws. I put it on this list because every other similar list features it and the movie is really good and seminal and by all accounts the book is only so-so.

Brokeback Mountain: A beautiful short story by Annie Proulx adapted into a screenplay by no less a Western writer than Larry McMurtry and filmed gorgeously by Ang Lee, it is a little unfair to say Brokeback Mountain is better than the book but I'd argue that its far-reaching impact and the amount of social controversy it stirred up qualify it as an important film. An emotionally challenging movie with solid performances from Jake Gyllenhall, Heath Ledger, and Michelle Williams and a heartbreaking ending, Brokeback deserved all of the hype and none of the backlash.

Adaptation: This one is tricky. The movie is actually about Charlie Kauffman trying to make a screenplay based on Susan Orlean's novel The Orchid Thief (another story that originated in the New Yorker, like Brokeback Mt). In the end, The Orchid Thief was a detailed portrait of an idiosyncratic man's life in Florida and a perfectly good book but was surpassed by the meta-ness of Adaptation's story-within-a-story plot line. Spike Jonze manages the potentially confusing events with clever ease and Meryl Streep knocks another role out of the park. Nicholas Cage, in this single movie in which I can stand watching him act, does a respectably goofy job playing identical twins (or halves of a split personality?). In the end, I loved the movie and tried to read the book but was disappointed that it wasn't more like the film.

The Stephen King paradox: Why are so many movies based on novels, novellas, or short stories by the prolific King better than his original versions? Does he write with the movie version in mind or are talented directors and screenwriters drawn to his work? The Shining, Stand by Me, Misery, Carrie and The Shawshank Redemption (with The Green Mile coming in a close 6th) are all excellent films based on King's fiction. Too bad the same cannot be said for Pet Cemetery. Or The Langoliers. Or The Stand.