Out to the theatre tonight to see Hollywood stars Josh Hartnett and Adam Godley reprise the movie roles made famous by Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. The film is a distant memory, but I remember it fairly cracking along (it was a road movie after all). Sadly, Dan Gordon’s updated version of the screenplay strips it of all its energy, leaving a ponderous play criminally lacking in drama. Hartnett attempted to lively things up by rushing through his lines: he had to repeat more than a handful. While there was certainly humour in the film, here I felt uneasy laughing at Godley’s severly autistic Raymond. And I learned more about autism from the leaflets handed out outside the theatre, than I did from the play. An uncomfortable evening.
© 2008 simon
