Molly

There are few great ideas in the world, so to claim that everything is a repeat of something else isn't too far off. Still, this movie takes the idea "Let's make a heartwarming story of a handicapped woman" and mushes it into crap. There are a lot of "Awakenings" factors in this movie, but the difference is Awakenings was worth watching. Awakenings was loosly based on fact. Molly seems to be a cheap rip off of all the better movies meant to make us better understand those around us who don't seem "normal". I find movies like this one, "The Other Sister", "I Am Sam", for more examples, to be an insult to mentally handicaped people. Take a big name star and watch them try to act less than normal. Bobby D and Dustin Hoffman are the only ones who have pulled it off for the newer generation. Everyone else is trying to play catch-up. Shue's performance is lame, weak, and a joke. While this movie does nothing more than try to manipulate the human emotions, magnify the human condition, it doesn't succeed on either front.

Molly McKay (Elizabeth Shue, very wonderful) has been living in a nursing home for years, after her parents' deaths. She has severe autism and generally answers every question with the word "no". One senses, however, that locked inside her being is a woman as bright as she is beautiful. Her older brother, Buck (Aaron Eckhart) has only visited her on rare occasions, as he was going through college and starting his career in advertising. Word comes, however, that the nursing home is closing and that Buck will have to make new arrangements for Molly. Very apprehensive, Buck brings Molly back to his Venice, California apartment, where the chaos soon begins. When a daycare situation goes sour, Buck has to bring Molly to work, where her erratic behavior soon causes the firm to lose a major account. Buck is promptly fired, causing resentment between the siblings. However, a clinic worker, Sam (Thomas Jane) has been a friend to Molly for years and he encourages Buck to be patient and caring. Also, a doctor at the clinic (Jill Hennessey) convinces Buck to let them try a new surgical technique on Molly, one that will allow her to lead a more normal life. Amazingly, after the procedure, Molly does become more verbal and starts to catch up on some of life's moments that have eluded her. But, can it last? This is a very nice film about an important topic, autism. However, instead of focusing on children, this one shines a light on the experiences of an adult with the condition. As such, Shue is wonderful as the brave and bright Molly while Eckhart is equally fine as her confused but goodhearted brother. One must also congratulate Hennessey and especially Jane for giving great turns as well. The setting in Venice is beautiful and the other cinema niceties, such as costumes and photography, are more than adequate. The script is both lightly humorous and tear generating, at the same time, and gives the audience a good look at the autistic individual, trapped inside his or her own body. Even so, one suspects that the film, made in 1999, might be a bit dated as to current discoveries and treatments. But, that matters little, indeed, to the overall enjoyment of the flick. If you are a fan of sweet, thought-provoking stories, told with care and humor, you should make time for Molly. Good golly, you will be entertained and enlightened at the same wonderful time.

This is a touching, bittersweet and wonderful film about an autistic woman who gains full use of her cognitive reasoning through an experimental procedure. Molly (Elizabeth Shue) is a 28 year old autistic who has been institutionalized much of her life. When the institution closes, she is left in the care of her self absorbed brother Buck (Aaron Eckhart). She is recommended for a new experimental procedure which transforms her into a normal young woman. As the story unfolds we see her grow from a child into a woman with many sweet and funny moments resulting from Molly's view of the world through childlike eyes. As her relationship with her brother grows, his transformation is as dramatic as hers.

The film was charmingly done with a coming of age quality about it. There were numerous comical and heart warming moments resulting from Molly's misperception of a world she is trying to make sense of.

The only thing working against this film is the fact that this ground has been retraced in so many ways that it suffers from the tendency to compare it to other films. It has elements of ‘Flowers for Algernon', ‘Rainman', ‘At First Sight' and ‘Awakenings'. It is difficult for a film to be fully appreciated when the viewer is mentally comparing it to all these other stories. That is a pity in this case because this really is a lovable story in its own right.

Elizabeth Shue gives us marvelous performance as Molly. Her portrayal of autism is realistic and endearing. She is so childlike that you really sense that she has the mind of a 3 year old. Later, as she transitions to the mind of an adult, she retains that childlike naiveté that gives the character a purity and wisdom that is fresh and free from cynicism. It was a wonderful performance that regrettably will not be seen by many since this film lives in obscurity as a single facing on the rental shelves.

I rated Molly an 8/10. On an emotional level, I really enjoyed it more than that, but I felt compelled to subtract a couple of points for lack of originality. However, if you enjoy human interest stories this one will certainly touch your heart.

I really wanted to like this movie but after 20 depressing minutes I started to play with my cat and do housework. The acting is mediocre and some performers are wasted. I feel this is probably due to the choppy editing which confused me. It seemed like whole sections were missing from the movie making me wonder did I miss something. The story was done much better in a wonderful film called "CHARLEY" with Cliff Robertson based on FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON. Apparently the movie premiered on airplanes and that should be a warning that the film is pretty awful. Elizabeth Shue gives a fine performance as the lead character and in some scenes she is quite touching. On the whole the best thing about watching this movie was I got to clean my apartment.

I must admit to being quite apprehensive about seing this movie as i had read quite a few dreadful reviews,some of which singled out Elisabeth Shue's portrayal of the title character as being cringeworthy and even worse,bordering on offensive. Having now seen the movie i can happily say it was much better than i had expected. To start,i found all of the performances to be very good particularly that of Thomas Jane who played Molly's boyfriend and of course Elisabeth Shue.Initially it was quite hard to accept her in this role because (Leaving Las Vegas excepted) other characters she has played were quite bland and uninteresting.As Molly she convinces incredibly well,displaying a wide range of emotions from childlike innocence to extreme anger and frustration, not to mention a handful of well played comic moments. Other plus points include a nice music score by Trevor Jones and a conclusion that doesn't go overly mushy yet still leaves you moved. If i had anything negative to say about Molly it would be that at times it seems quite rushed (apparently quite a few scenes were edited out),and that occasionally it is reminiscent of a T.V. movie. All in all while not an excellent movie, Molly certainly isn't terrible and i would definitley recommend it.