'Worst Adapted Screenplay'
Too bad there isn't an Oscar category by that name, huh?
I really enjoyed the book (though everything else by John Irving that I've read, I consider to be better.)
Now, I knew up front that adapting a novel for film is pretty difficult sometimes, which is why almost every movie adaptation of a well-loved novel engenders fans who persist in saying, "...But the book is so much better!" Usually, I give such protestations short shrift. I tend to shirk them off with an attitude of "well, what were you expecting, anyway?"
The movie version of "Garp" is in a class all its own. This movie has to be one of the awfullest screenplays adapted from a novel of all time. Worst adapted screenplay" of any I've ever seen, that's for sure.
Lithgow as Roberta was everything it should have been. Everything else, though... Geez, the late Steve Tesich sure was in over his head with this one. Should've stuck with bicycling stories. The directing and editing left a lot to be desired, too, and the casting of Glenn Close was a horrible choice; just because she's a good actress in other roles doesn't mean she could ever have been believable as Jenny Fields.
"I don't deduce, I observe."