# The Lovely Bones (film) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lovely-bones-film/523577 "2010-01-04T03:37:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lovely-bones-film/523577/21 "2010-04-28T19:05:39Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Ebert’s review is bizarre in it’s wrongness. He seems to have some sort of problem with how the afterlife is shown. He criticizes what he calls heaven for the very attributes that makes it obvious that it is not heaven but instead a pre-heaven limbo. And his comments about how the afterlife can’t have colors WTF!? Give me a break. I think Ebert is starting to go senile. The movie might not work for other reasons, but not for the bizarre reasons he gave. This is nothing new; he’s been mangling basic plot details for years. His review of _Ronin_ reads like he watched a different film entirely. > [@faithfool](#): > > The only thing I could appreciate about it where the 70s style / decor and the actress that played the victim. The rest was too esoteric and banal. Those are two adjectives that don’t generally go together. Point of note; in the book, the thrust of the story isn’t vengeance or justice, and in fact the denouement seems almost tacked on to satisfy the reader (or perhaps the author, Alice Sebold, who was herself a victim of a brutal rape). The story is about the main character detachedly observing the disintegration of her family from her post-murder limbo state. It’s a well written book but it goes off the rails (IMHO) about sixty pages from the end. I haven’t seen the movie but find it disappointing that it is getting such poor press, as Jackson handled similar material with deft humor and tragic inevitability in _Heavenly Creatures_. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lovely-bones-film/523577/22 "2010-04-28T23:18:44Z")
I realize the posts I’m quoting here are several months old already, but I wanted to address them for the benefit of anyone who saw the movie but didn’t read the book. > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I didn’t like the book either, and I found the whole premise kind of lame as well. > > As well as… > > The rape/murder victim possessing her friend’s body to have sex with the guy she likes. Gross… > [@Equipoise](#): > > That’s not what happened!They just kissed. They were interrupted before they could kiss at school, so this was the kiss that Susie missed. And that girl wasn’t her friend. I don’t know that they’d ever even interacted prior to Susie’s death. What **Freudian Slit** describes is indeed what happened in the book. I guess they changed it for the movie, but she was referring to the book. I’m not surprised they did change it, as that was arguably the most disturbing thing about the book. That may seem strange to say about a book that begins with an adolescent girl being raped and murdered, but the book was clear about this being a terrible crime and a tragedy that hurt the entire family, while we were apparently supposed to feel happy for the protagonist when she possessed another girl’s body and used it to have sex. Making it even worse in my mind was the fact that Susie could easily have taken this opportunity to tip the police off about her killer’s location. Heck, she could have done this AND had sex with the guy, it only would have taken a minute. She’d been watching from the afterlife, so she knew the detective suspected George Harvey but had been unable to find him. Perhaps more to the point, she also knew her _father_ suspected Mr. Harvey and that her father had been nearly destroyed by the fact that her killer had never been brought to justice and that his own efforts in that direction had failed. I think having Mr. Harvey arrested, tries, and convicted would have been a lot more satisfying resolution than having a ghost drop an icicle on him. That’s just stupid. ---
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lovely-bones-film/523577/23 "2010-05-05T21:48:19Z")
I just finished the book on Sunday, and had the DVD available to me so I attempted to watch it on Monday. I reeeeally did not like how the movie was done, and found myself giving up on it about half way through. I went on IMDB afterward anyway to look at trivia and goofs, and saw that in the movie Mr. Harvey dies by falling off a cliff, something like that. Unless I’m totally oblivious, in the book, he never even got caught. Am I wrong? Did I miss something? Ack! ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lovely-bones-film/523577/24 "2010-05-05T23:50:44Z")
I’ve only seen the movie but found it quite good really. Not great but a decent watch. If you want to see a good, truly New Zealand movie look out for Taiki Waititi’s _Boy_. Best and funniest thing I’ve seen in ages. ---
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lovely-bones-film/523577/25 "2010-05-10T12:44:36Z")
_BUMP_ Just to see if someone can answer my spoiler-boxed question above. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lovely-bones-film/523577/26 "2010-05-10T12:50:46Z")
I haven’t read the book, but I enjoyed the movie. Comparing a movie to a book is like comparing a live concert to a studio recording. They are rarely going to be an equal experience. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lovely-bones-film/523577/27 "2010-05-10T19:53:18Z")
> [@saramamalana](#): > > _BUMP_ > > Just to see if someone can answer my spoiler-boxed question above. I’ll answer. He isn’t caught in the movie, either. He gets older(years go by), we assume we rapes more people, and then when he hits on this one girl who rejects him, an icicle falls and hits him on the head. He falls off a cliff and tumbles down, dead. Wikipedia lists the same ending for the book. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lovely-bones-film/523577/28 "2010-10-25T17:23:10Z")
Read the book years a go. Missed the movie when it came out as well as the DVD and Blu ray initially. Just saw it over the weekend. I thought it was very good. No idea why it got the bad publicity. Pretty much everything they cut was not strictly necessary to the film and the acting of all the main characters was excellent, especially Tucci. Why the hate? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lovely-bones-film/523577.md?page=1)