"Good night you Princes of Maine, you Kings of New England..."

THE CIDER HOUSE RULES (PG-13)

Reviewed March 25, 2000 - Check out The Cider House Rules Website.

Studio Synopsis: Based on the best-selling novel by John Irving, The Cider House Rules tells story of Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire), a child without parents raised and mentored by his orphanage's doctor, a man named Larch (Michael Cain). He taught Homer everything about medicine and what he could about right and wrong, but he never gave him rules to live by. When he leaves to discover the world, he has more excitement than he could ever imagine, especially when he falls in love for the first time. But when forced to make decisions that will change the course of his future, he ultimately realizes that he can't escape his past.

Fuzzydog Review: Beautifully told and richly portrayed, The Cider House Rules is the kind of film that entertains in the most quiet, understated and ultimately satisfying ways.  With terrific character work from Michael Cain, Tobey Maguire and Charlize Theron, and equally noteworthy performances by a supporting cast including Delroy Lindo and Jane Alexander, this film builds upon each character, each subplot and each moment, slowly developing into the memorable motion picture that it is.  No big explosions or loud special effects here, just a finely woven tale about the lives of a few people living in New England during the mid-1940s. 

At heart, this film is about choices people make in their lives, sometimes playing by the rules and sometimes breaking them.  It is, I think, a film with many lessons to give, but the lessons will likely be different for each person who sees it.  You will definitely *not* get an in-your-face "and the moral of the story is..." message in The Cider House Rules; instead, you'll get a story that makes no judgments on its own, happily leaving that task up to you.  If you're up for that bit of welcomed challenge, then this is a film that may well be worth your time...

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

hyper_chick_5@hotmail.com gives this movie  star: "I thought this movie was crap.i didn't like the way it potrayed abortion." (9/18/00)