The Westing Game

When I read the Westing Game, I thought the movie was going to be good. Unfortunately, it bit the big one. I'm not one to mince words, so I'll admit that that was one of the worst movies on the planet. Extremely boring, not one interesting part in the whole shmere. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ................

Ellen Raskin wrote an amazing novel that was smart, witty and unpredictable. This movie was a horrible disgrace to the book (as many are.) Only few movies can pull of books (notice the word few) and they are few (few again!) and far between. This is not one of them. Be advised... stay away.

This movie has a "made-for-tv" feel to it with mediocre actors and shallow character development. Being a big fan of the book, I was disappointed that the movie made some major changes to the plot and even eliminated some heirs. The joy of the book are the quarky characters and unexpected twists of the story. The movie comes across as more bland and contrived. I didn't really root for any of the characters to win the game. My advice, skip the film and just read the book by Ellen Raskin which won the Newbery Medal.

The book was far better than this horible theatrical recreation. I makes me wonder if anyone associated with the film has ever read the book. They dropped at least five key characters and then went on to destroy the other characters completly. While the beginning and the end of the movie may have been remotely simmiler to the book, the rest of the movie was a total loss. The book was clevery written leaving you guessing up til the very end with every player intertwining around the others. I was sorley dissapointed, I could see no reason as to why anyone would want to turn such a good book into such a bad movie, It was a complete waste of time and money. Do Not See This Film.

I just finished reading the Westing Game a couple years ago, and one day when I was searching on the IMDb for a completely different topic, this movie turned up. I have not seen it, but by simply looking at the cast list, I know they did something wrong. How did they louse it up? Let me count the ways.

CHARACTERS 1 Got Rid Of Madame Hoo (& Thus The Burglary Plot) 2 Got Rid Of Flora Baumbach (& Thus Turtle's Confidante) 3 Got Rid Of Mister Theodorakis (& Thus Violet Westing Connection) 4 Got Rid Of Theo Theodorakis (& Thus Chris' Caretaker) 5 Got Rid Of Edgar Plum (& Thus Somewhat Humorous Idiotic Lawyer)

SUBPLOTS 1 Burglary 2 Stocks 3 Violet Westing & Mister Theodorakis

MISCELLANEOUS 1 And So On

Why Did They Let This Happen To A Great Children's Book? Shame On Whoever Did This!