Goodnight, Mister Tom (1998)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

I'll tell you why so serious

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Sentimental? Yes. Life-Affirming? Yes. Heartwarming? Yes. Mawkish? Definitely no. In short a wonderful effort with top marks to everyone involved beginning, of course, as always, with the writing, through directing to acting. I have a healthy streak of cynicism in my makeup and I'm usually among the first to spot 'manipulation' and, in the immortal words of Damon Runyon, deal with it accordingly. This time around, however, I was content to overlook contrivance - a saintly evacuee, illiterate and battle-scarred who utters not one word of complaint/reproach against the mother who has almost succeeded in scarring him (both mentally and physically) for life; a near hermit, embittered by his own tragic loss in the War before this one, turning his face against his neighbours, finding happiness almost against his will - and rejoice in great acting that is greater for being restrained. A must-see.

I totally agree. The acting was just repulsive. Will's, to be exact. He was like he was totally reading off a script. No emotion. And I think that was a very important character to have the right actor. And he was hardly even an actor. His nightmares were so fake and poorly-acted that it was even laughable. Will was cheeky and quite unlikable, he made no character progress, stayed the same (which was basically the whole point and storyline of the book and movie-he flourishes with the help of Mister Tom). I'd like to warn anyone- IF YOU READ THE BOOK, DON'T SEE THE MOVIE- SPOILS IT ALL! This movie is, like, seriously underrated. It's slow-moving and boring. I couldn't care less of what happens next. It does, as you said, miss out on a lot of very important parts such as: -The character development. -The love Will shows for Tom. -Will, Tom and Zach's holiday in the sun -Spooky Cott and whatshisname that lives there -His mum was much much nicer, Tom was meaner and Will was bolder -Zach, Ginnie, Carrie, George and Will: all the times they hung out I bet I forgot a lot, but basically the movie is extremely overrated and pure crap.

The cover of the DVD sleeve caught my eye at the local library (the one shown on the main details page for this film), and it was clearly a dead giveaway of where this story was headed. Which is just fine, because in a jaded world where the dysfunctional TV family is gradually replacing the two parent variety with normal, healthy kids, we could all use a bit of a feel good picture. Apparently most of the viewers on this board think so too, which gives me some hope that all is not lost for most of us regular folks.I've never seen actor John Thaw before, but I like him. He brings a kindly, grandfatherly persona to the character of Tom Oakley, even with the curmudgeonly opening set-up to make us think he's a boor. I don't think he had anyone really fooled in his English home town, especially after young William Beech (Nick Robinson) is summarily placed in old Tom's care. The patience and understanding he brought to foster William's self confidence makes him pretty much a saint in my book.The best scene of the film, which I'm sure many will second, was that parade of would be fishermen following Mister Tom down to the river once it's known that he's taking William. With knowing gestures, the town's busybodies wink and nod their approval, as Tom feigns his indifference to their recognition. Mister Tom is a class act, and "Goodnight, Mister Tom" is a class film. See it.

I have been familiar with the fantastic book of 'Goodnight Mister Tom' for absolutely ages and it was only recently when I got the chance to watch this adaption of it. I have heard lots of positive remarks about this, so I had high hopes. Once this film had finished, I was horrified.This film is not a good film at all. 'Goodnight Mister Tom' was an extremely poor adaption and practically 4.5/10 of the book was missed out. Particularly, I found that a lot of the characters and some great scenes in the book were not in this. There was not much dialogue, It was rushed and far too fast-moving, but I was mostly upset by the fact that you never got to see the bonding and love between William Beech and Tom in this film which was a true let down. The casting was not all that good,either. I thought this could have been really good, but it was so different to the book! Anextremely poor adaption, one of the worst I've seen. This deserves a decent remake that'd better be 1000 times better than this pile of garbage.