Misery (1990) * * *

 

Directed by:  Rob Reiner

Starring:  Kathy Bates, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen, Lauren Bacall

Is it a curse or a blessing that writer Paul Sheldon (Caan), after crashing his car during a blizzard, is rescued by his self-appointed "number one fan" Annie Wilkes (Bates)?   Annie nurses Paul back to health and seems kind enough, until she learns Paul killed off the title character in his latest "Misery" novel.  Paul was holed up in a quaint Colorado motel writing his first post-Misery novel prior to the accident and for Annie, this world without Misery won't do.   She forces Paul to burn his latest manuscript and then write another Misery novel in which her favorite character is resurrected.   The penalty for non-compliance?   Abuse, possibly death, and something called hobbling which involves a vicious attack on Paul's legs which means he won't be walking around anytime soon.

With the exception of scenes in which the local sheriff (Farnsworth) and his deputy/wife (Sternhagen) attempt in vain to locate the missing Sheldon, Misery is a back-and-forth byplay between Annie and Paul, who is now her prisoner instead of her patient.   Kathy Bates won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance and it is a Jekyll and Hyde personality transformation between the dutiful and folksy nurse and cruel scorned woman who we learn is more than capable of murder.   Caan is more than her foil with whom we sympathize.   He has to think his way out of a hopeless situation in which he can barely move from his bed.

Based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, Misery acquits itself as a thriller because of the Bates and Caan performances, while Farnsworth and Sternhagen provide comic relief as the sheriff and deputy who sometimes bicker like, well an old married couple.   Most of the action takes place within the Wilkes farm, in which Annie helpfully keeps a scrapbook of newspaper articles which tell the full story about her to anyone who would stumble across it.   We know immediately there is more to the overly cheery Annie Wilkes than meets the eye, but we find out just how sadistic she can be when Misery figures into the equation.   With fans like these, who needs haters?