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The Cider House Rules
on DVD (1999)
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| Starring: |
Michael Caine, Delroy Lindo, Charlize Theron, Tobey Maguire, Paul Rudd, Kathy Baker, Kieran Culkin, Jane Alexander, Kate Nelligan, K. Todd Freeman, Heavy D, Erykah Badu |
| Director: |
Lasse Hallstrom |
| Studio: |
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time: |
120 mins |
| Certificate: |
 |
| User collections: |
EnterTheBlack!!, classics top ten, My favorites |
| Genres: |
Drama |
| Languages: |
English |
| Released: |
12/03/2001
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Brief synopsis of The Cider House Rules
THE CIDER HOUSE RUES, an expertly crafted and intelligent adapation of John Irving's novel, explores themes of disappointment, ideas of moral ambiguity, and, indeed, lessons about life itself, woven into a dramatic story that is neither slow nor sentimental. Tobey Maguire is the immensely likable Homer Wells, a lifelong resident of a Maine orphanage who comes of age during WWII under the auspices of its director, Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine). Larch is pragmatic, progressive, highly intelligent, and loathe to let Homer go out into the world. He sees him as a son, and the only one whose medical training allows for him to take over when he retires from his job as physician, obstetrician, and illegal abortionist. When ingenue Candy (Charlize Theron) and air force adventurer Wally (Paul Rudd), come to Larch for help with an abortion, Homer befriends the couple and, against Larch's wishes, sets off with them to see the world, or at least the rest of Maine. Working at an apple orchard owned by Wally's mother (Kate Nelligan), Homer lives and works with a group of African-American migrant workers, among them the morally ambiguous Mr. Rose Delroy Lindo and his beloved daughter Rose Rose (Erykah Badu in a stunning debut). When Wally goes off to war, and Rose Rose gets into a complex and frightening situation, Homer is faced with serious choices and dilemmas that can only be solved by the wisdom he has learned from Larch. A classic, old-fashioned-style American film that deals directly with sensitive and taboo issues, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES is a beautifully acted, carefully paced story full of substance.
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Related
Critics Reviews
Radio Times
The third John Irving novel to reach the screen (after The World According to Garp and The Hotel New Hampshire), this is a rich, evocative period piece that makes the most of its New England locations. Tobey Maguire plays Homer Wells, a foundling who, having spent all his young life at an orphanage run by Michael Caine's kindly abortionist, decides to seek new pastures. Alas, he finds the codes he lives by of little use in the real world. Although drastically slimmed down from Irving's original (Homer's 15-year odyssey is reduced to a mere 15 months), Lasse Hallström's film has a simple integrity that fills every frame, while Caine won his second Oscar for his performance as the ether-addicted Dr Larch.
Halliwell's Film Guide
A leisurely drama, of a boy growing to manhood, that has an intensely nostalgic feel to it, so that even unpleasant moments have a warm glow to them; this is life seen through rose-coloured memories, given some touch of reality by its quality of acting.
Time Out
With his taste for lengthy melodrama and his idiosyncratic sensibility, John Irving has proved a tricky source for...
Read more on www.timeout.com
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