Don't you hate it...

When you watch a movie after having read the book? Luckily, I rarely am a person who happens to pick a book to read before they make it into a movie. I can count on one hand the times I have done that. And of all those times, there was only one that I didn't feel truly disappointed after watching the movie. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was tolerable in movie format. They basically stuck to the story line and I loved all the actresses. I HATE, HATE, HATE (or as my mom would say STRONGLY DISLIKE) Confessions of A Shopaholic as a movie. It is so ridiculously not what the book was. Granted there are like 5 or 6 books in that series and each book is pretty lengthy so that would be hard to fit into a 1 1/2 to 2 hour movie. But still...horrid. In reverse, I am sometimes thankful that I watched a movie instead of reading the book. Devil Wears Prada is one of my favorite movies and I imagine had I read the book first I wouldn't feel this way.

What has prompted this book versus movie rant? Last night I watched My Sister's Keeper for the first time. About a month back I read this very book. My sister-in-law read it first and told me I had to read the book before watching the movie. I really enjoyed the story line and after reading it she filled me in on some of the discrepancies between the book and the on screen version. But actually watching it, seeing for myself how very different they were; exasperating. First of all, they completely left out a character. The entire love story in the book. They bring up the fact that Anna's locket is gone but never reveal why. Jesse...dyslexic? Nope, not even close to what his problem's were in the book. I was actually starting to get excited when I watched the scenes with Taylor in them because they seemed to be getting it right on but then the scene at the dance was way more sexual then the book. I understand that makes for more enjoyable viewing for some people. I could go on and on but let's just jump right to the end of the movie. So completely different. And what I don't understand is why. The book's ending is way more dramatic and provides that twist that every good movie evidently has. That thing that makes you say, "wow...I didn't see that coming."

Mostly I feel sorry for my husband. I had originally planned to watch this with my sister-in-law so we could pick it apart together but he picked it up remembering that I had wanted to watch it. I am sure that he was unable to enjoy it because I kept saying, "WHAT! NO, that is not how it goes," and then would precede to give the real details from the book. I hate to be that person but you can't just sit and watch something like that without speaking up. I am learning my lesson and avoiding movies after books unless I am by myself or with someone else who has read the book. That means Dear John will have to be a rental on a night Jeremy is working because I am sure it will not satisfy and I will need to dialogue while watching it!