I really want to upload the footage to my computer and REINSERT THE ENDING
I liked this movie, I liked it a lot, it was basically what I expected and it had pretty much all of what I liked in the book.
BUT it was missing a few fundamentals that keep me from absolutely loving it.
As Chuck pointed out in the DVD feature with Clark Gregg, it left out the stuff about Ida's hypnotism, which I would've liked to see, but it didn't feel to necessary to me.
It left out that little origin story thing about Victor seeing the porn on the computer as a child, which I felt seemed important. All that stuff about how Victor liked it because the guy in the video was really willing to put himself out there without any shame...it really said a lot about his character.
And then there were the deleted scenes, which...well, I know I always think that all the deleted scenes on DVDs should've been included in the movie, but with this one, it felt like the stuff they left out really left the movie incomplete.
The scene of Ida switching the hair dye bottles really stuck out from the novel to me as an act that was really emblematic of her character, and it was really the first thing I thought of Ida doing when I tried to remember Victor's childhood. In fact, the day before I doubt the DVD, I remember describing the book to someone when I mentioned I was getting the movie, and when I tried to describe what the protagonist's mother did when the protagonist was a kid, the hair dye thing was the only thing I mentioned. So, that definitely should've been in.
And then there was the rock-house scene at the end! GOD that was so important! It was the climax of the movie! The resolution of Beth and Denny's story! The redemption of Victor, him having to face his sins, the people wanting to stone him, the parallels with Jesus...even the stuff the movie added that wasn't in the book, with the guy saving Victor and how that tied together all the themes of salvation and forgiveness and penitence. I mean, even though the scene on the DVD left out my very favourite line in the entire book, the last line, which I believed summed up and described absolutely everything the book was saying and what it was about...that line, I'm sorry, I don't have the book right next to me and I can't remember the exact wording but it was that line about, "This thing we're building, here in the middle of the night, it could be anything." Even though the deleted scene didn't have that line, it was still good enough, and I really really think it belonged in the movie. Even if they left the ending of Victor and Page on the plane, that was fine, but keep the rock-house scene!
So basically, I really want to find a good DVD video capture program, upload all the footage to my computer (including the deleted scenes), and reinstate all the deleted scenes. THEN the movie would be more or less perfect. Except for that "it could be anything" line. That one, I can't forgive.
Anyone agree?
"Reality is what I make of it."
—God

