Stephen King Month: Hearts In Atlantis

2.5 Stars - Dull

Stephen King was a child of the 1950s and 60s, and his growing up in that period undoubtedly influenced his writing as can be seen in stories like The Body and the collection Hearts In Atlantis. Which is a collection of novellas and short stories about the 1960s and their effect on people. The film is based on the longest story in the collection, Low Men In Yellow Coats.

It tells the story of Bobby Garfield, a young boy whose mother is constantly telling him that they don't have much money. One day a new lodger arrives for the apartment above their house, his name Ted Brautigan. Ted employs Bobby to read the newspaper to him as his eyes are getting tired in his old age, he also asks him to keep a look out for signs of the suspicious low men. Ted is wanted by them so they can use his psychic gifts to assist them in their destruction of the beams supporting The Dark Tower... but that's a different, better story. Bobby and Ted develop a connection together which is put to the test when the Low Men start to show up.

The film is a bit boring, not an awful lot happens in it and the performances, apart from Anthony Hopkins who is marvellous as always, are just a bit uninteresting to watch.

As an adaptation it does okay, but misses a few important things, like there isn't a single mention of Lord of the Flies, they changed the end so that Bobby never became angry and bitter against the world. The most obvious removal was the Dark Tower stuff, which is a problem, there is no way they could have done that stuff without having made a series of Dark Tower films first, but without it the Low Men have no established reason to get Ted so the whole plot feels unsubstantial.

"Astonishingly Good"

In short, an okay but dull film. Maybe if you really like the book give it a watch as you'll only be a little dissapointed at the adaptation.