This movie does a huge disservice to the book. The screenwriter/director went on an ego trip and cut and/or drastically changed characters, changed the setting, and then did lip service to most of the major scenes. Some of the most pivotal scenes in the movie were present, but the setup for why they were important was never made, so when those scenes took place you were just sitting there going "meh."
Example - Ben shows up with dyed hair in the kitchen, but the reaction from the sisters is not nearly as volatile because there's no setup for their circumstances. They skipped over the sh*% storm of an environment that the mother returns to when she comes back with Diane. Later on, when you meet Ben Day as an adult, he is balding and his natural hair color is dark brown...completely eliminating the significance of the dye.
They took away all the suspense of the movie, every person you suspected of committing the murders in the book wasn't even suspicious in the movie. Long before the climactic scene, you knew who killed everyone and you didn't care. Then for some unknown reason they changed the end to something that is just incredibly boring.
Example - Lou Cates is presented as some scrawny average middle aged man, not intimidating at all, and except for some side comment by Lyle about him being arrested later for assault, you would never have known he had any kind of depth to him at all, but by the time you find that out, you don't care and he's never presented as a potential suspect.
None of the characters were properly developed; they were inconsistent with the book, and within the movie itself. Diondra was some sad emotional, but slightly manipulative girl whose only erratic behavior took place under the influence of drugs. How you go from that to what she does makes no sense at all, whereas in the book her actions were consistent with her character.
Other than a small example of kleptomania, Libby Day was never developed as the dark, disturbed person that Gillian Flynn wrote about. One of the primary agenda's of Gillian Flynn's writing is to show that women can be just as dark and twisted as your stereotypical dark male protagonist; this movie failed miserably in that.
Lastly, I'm not really sure what movie the other reviewers watched, but the acting was about as good your average lifetime network special. The scene at the Cates' house was particularly abysmal...no one was believable. Just a huge waste of an amazing book.
Example - Ben shows up with dyed hair in the kitchen, but the reaction from the sisters is not nearly as volatile because there's no setup for their circumstances. They skipped over the sh*% storm of an environment that the mother returns to when she comes back with Diane. Later on, when you meet Ben Day as an adult, he is balding and his natural hair color is dark brown...completely eliminating the significance of the dye.
They took away all the suspense of the movie, every person you suspected of committing the murders in the book wasn't even suspicious in the movie. Long before the climactic scene, you knew who killed everyone and you didn't care. Then for some unknown reason they changed the end to something that is just incredibly boring.
Example - Lou Cates is presented as some scrawny average middle aged man, not intimidating at all, and except for some side comment by Lyle about him being arrested later for assault, you would never have known he had any kind of depth to him at all, but by the time you find that out, you don't care and he's never presented as a potential suspect.
None of the characters were properly developed; they were inconsistent with the book, and within the movie itself. Diondra was some sad emotional, but slightly manipulative girl whose only erratic behavior took place under the influence of drugs. How you go from that to what she does makes no sense at all, whereas in the book her actions were consistent with her character.
Other than a small example of kleptomania, Libby Day was never developed as the dark, disturbed person that Gillian Flynn wrote about. One of the primary agenda's of Gillian Flynn's writing is to show that women can be just as dark and twisted as your stereotypical dark male protagonist; this movie failed miserably in that.
Lastly, I'm not really sure what movie the other reviewers watched, but the acting was about as good your average lifetime network special. The scene at the Cates' house was particularly abysmal...no one was believable. Just a huge waste of an amazing book.