The Cider House Rules (1999)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Better Late Then Never

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

If I had children, I wouldn't allow them to watch this movie. Why? The entire movie is a propaganda for abortion. It only depicts pro-choice arguments. Pro-life arguments are completely left out.The most manipulative character in this movie is Doctor Wilbur who talks Homer into guilty feelings for being pro-life ("If this girl came to you few months earlier, and asked for an abortion, what would you have done? Nothing. You would have done nothing. And this happens by doing nothing" (a girl is dying after a badly performed abortion by an amateur). Besides Dr Wilbur, all pro-choice people are the good guys, whilst all pro-life people are the baddies. Homer is an exception to this rule because in the end, he changes his mind and becomes an abortionist himself.Dear author of this movie and the book. There are foster parents in this world who do love their adopted children, and who would never raise their hands against them. And there are mothers who live happily ever after with their rape-children. If Charlize Theron's character actually wanted to have some children so much, why did she abort her first child in the first place? Oh, let me guess, she was just not ready yet for being a mother.I rate this movie with 7 stars for two reasons. When I was a teenager, I didn't fully understand the message of this film. To me, it was a beautifully made movie about a boy searching for a home and a family before realising that the orphanage has always been, and always will be his true home and family. Now that I'm older, I understand the manipulative message ("abortion is not a crime, and should be legalised"). Because of its one-sided message, I think this movie is indeed a very dangerous brainwashing movie. If the author's intent was the legalisation of abortion, then well done! It's legal now in many states and countries. On behalf of thousand millions of aborted babies, THANK YOU very much!! I hope, you can sleep with all those painful screams of unwanted babies. Again, THANK YOU!

The message of this movie is one of the most powerful messages I ever watched in cinema. In the cider house, Homer (Tobbey Maguire) discover some rules written in a paper nailed in the wall. The rules were there, all the time, but they were not respected since people there were not able to read. They were illiterate.The message here is so powerful, once it is a direct comparison with the Bible itself and the 10 rules written there for thousands of years. I would like to say I am completely against abortion based on my own convictions, but abortion is not the point here. Not to abort, or not to kill, is a rule, like the ones in the cider house walls. But when you are a doctor disposed to abort safely, intending to save someone which is intended to kill and also risking its own life in committing suicide? All that motivated as a victim of society's prejudice, of course! Are you disrespecting the rule? I do not know the answer and I suppose neither John Irving does.And we do not know only because we are not able to understand the rule itself and all its implications.Fantastic movie.

"Goodnight, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England."Michael Caine's second Oscar win came from his 1999 supporting role in The Cider House Rules, and despite delivering a solid performance I wouldn't even rank it amongst his best work. The true standout here was Tobey Maguire who delivers a very subtle performance and is the main reason why the story works so well. I'd say it's the best performance of his career. The film is old-fashioned (and the references to Dickens' David Copperfield reinforce that claim even more) as it manages to capture the humanity in the story with a wonderful adaptation from John Irving of his own 1985 novel. The film isn't afraid of tackling some moral dilemmas such as abortion and incest, and it does so without forcing a point of view on the audience. Lasse Hallstrom directs this film with his characteristic beautiful visual style although at times the melodrama can be a bit too sentimental. I felt like the film was much more similar in style to his prior film, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, as it focuses on several family dynamics and various subplots in a similar way. This is also as close as a Dickens movie we will get set in America. The film isn't perfect however and there are several relationships that feel forced, but I assume it has to do with trying to fit the most important elements of the novel into a two hour movie. The film opens with a voice-over narration from Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine) explaining how he became the orphanage director at St. Cloud, Maine. He takes special interest in a young boy named Homer Wells who is returned back to the orphanage immediately by every foster parent who attempts to adopt him. After a while it becomes evident to Dr. Larch that Homer will stay with them for a long time so he begins to teach him everything he knows about being a doctor. After several years, now Homer is a grown man (Tobey Maguire) who becomes Dr. Wilbur's assistant in the orphanage. When Lt. Wally (Paul Rudd) and his pregnant girlfriend Candy (Charlize Theron) show up at the orphanage to have an abortion that Dr. Larch is willing to do, Homer decides it is time to explore the outside world and leaves with the young couple. Wally offers him a job at his family's apple farm which he gladly accepts. Before heading back to war, Wally and Candy take Homer to see the ocean for the very first time and this is just the first of many first time experiences that Candy will go on to introduce him to. Meanwhile, Dr. Wilbur has hopes that Homer will return and carry on the work which he has groomed him for, but he refuses to consider himself a doctor and seems to be enjoying life picking apples and spending time with Candy. There are a couple of strong supporting performances from Delroy Lindo as one of the men in charge of the apple picking group and Erykah Badu who plays his daughter. Jane Alexander and Kathy Baker are two of the nurses in the orphanage who work with Dr. Larch. Some of the child actors playing orphans deliver some strong scenes as Kieran Culkin, Erik Per Sullivan, and Paz de la Huerta specially stand out. My greatest complaint with the cast however is that J.K. Simmons is given absolutely nothing to do here playing Candy's father. He seems to be only in a couple of montage scenes, but they completely misuse him. One of the strengths of the film however is that despite a shocking discovery surrounding Delroy Lindo's character, he is never portrayed as a one dimensional character. There is some complexity to his character and he isn't simply portrayed as a villain. On the moral dilemma surrounding the issue of abortion we have two characters with differing points of views, on the one hand Dr. Larch is very much for it, while Homer who has more faith in humanity is against it. The film may take a slightly pro abortion stand, but it doesn't feel heavy handed considering the main issue here is Homer's struggle to discover his own identity or follow the destiny Wilbur has traced for him. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

more than a movie, it is a beautiful meeting between a good cast and a good novel. the Irving universe is, step by step, resurrected with admirable grace and the performances are really seductive. a film about choices and verdicts, with powerful flavor of South and with gentle demonstrations of clever solutions for transform a story in more than a beautiful one but, maybe, memorable. one of films who represents a must see for the delicate force of image, subject, acting. it is an useful tool for reflection about world and its rules. romance and drama in right proportions, it is source of special mark who reminds old things, who resurrect new emotions.