The Door in the Floor

Just when I think the moral reprobates making films these days have hit bottom, I stumbled onto this disgusting movie on Hulu. (At least I didn't have to pay to see this rubbish). The movie has virtually no redeeming qualities. Two adults, who have separated, each use a teen age boy to their own ends which is nothing short of child abuse. The wife has sex with the boy and the husband approves! The movie goes down from that point. There is nothing entertaining or interesting about the characters. Indeed, if ever there were an argument for disallowing couple to become parents these two would be candidates of the first degree. Don't waste your time on this pointless movie. Let the effete pseudo-intellectuals that wrote glowing reviews of The Door wallow in this filth. I'm sure you can find something better to do with your time.

I, for one, don't read these viewer comments to get a play-by-play retelling of a movie's plot. Why would I want someone to tell me their condensed version of what I might be about to spend two hours on? What I want to know is how a viewer felt while watching the film. In the case of "The Door in the Floor", let me preface the following by saying I have no ax whatsoever to grind with Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, or anyone else involved with this product. My only goal is to tip someone who might be "on the fence" about whether or not to rent this flick. Truth is, "Door" is boring, depressing and ultimately uninteresting. Basinger looks old in that Hollywood 'trying-not-to-look-old' way and is given little to work with. Bridges is given too much, and mumbles and mutters his way through it, all the way to the stupid ending. There has to be a better choice than this for your viewing pleasure.

Subject matter is grim, but inexplicably the director turns repeatedly for extended amounts of time to almost-slapstick humor. Otherwise plodding, with little character development. At best, it can be said the story develops. The characters simply go nowhere. Adapted from one of John Irving's less-acclaimed novels, from start to finish, production choices are baffling. Directing was poor, and Kim Bassinger's talent wasted. Cinematic ally, devices such as shaky shots, changing focus within a frame, etc. were too overt to be effective. Rather, they proved distracting (ironically, something of a blessing.) Having the boom mic in the top of more than six shots didn't help, either.

Adapting John Irving for the screen is never easy. His remarkable stories effortlessly fuse comedy and drama, often with a delightful sense of the absurd, too. Translating that unique style to film, however, rarely is successful. In "The Door in the Floor," screenwriter/director Tod Williams doesn't quite know what he wants his film to be. Adapting the first third of Irving's work, Williams can't decide on whom he should focus. Is his film about Ted (Jeff Bridges) and Marion (Kim Basinger)? Or, Ted and Eddie (Jon Foster)? Or, Eddie and Marion? Or, Ted and Marion and their daughter, Ruth (Elle Fanning)? What Williams tries to do is make everyone the focus; his story never quite gels and his film winds up emotionally barren and dramatically flat. While Williams pours on the symbolism - he isn't subtle about this - he avoids turning his film into melodramatic mishmash. But he's desperately trying to find the ideal balance between the comic and serious and his film flaps unsuccessfully in-between. When he opts for serious drama, he turns to Marion's despair. But Williams treats her superficially. He has Basinger spending much of the film staring blankly out at the ocean or solemnly walking along the shore or sitting glumly in her car. When she speaks, it's in a somber monotone. We never learn much about her or what makes her tick for Williams never bothers to delve into Marion's deeply conflicted and emotionally shattered persona. That Basinger, quite possibly the fantasy of many, if not all, men, plays her seductress with a convincing vulnerability proves her abundant talent. Too bad she was given such a woefully underwritten role. Bridges, on the other hand, fits perfectly into Ted. He's genial when he wants to be, loving when he needs to be and always keeps a glimmer of menace lurking just beneath his affable exterior. When he warns Eddie, "I'm going to grind you like a fine powder," we can imagine Eddie's dread. It's a compelling, intelligent and enjoyable performance by Bridges, proving, yet again, why he's one of our most engaging performers. When Williams tries for comedy, he goes overboard. He turns a tantrum scene toward the end into a farcical slapstick routine that not only seems out of place, but also makes it clear he's trying too hard to be funny. Much of the film's been so cheerless that he just cannot find the right tone for this scene. The film's finest moment happens not between Ted and Marion or Eddie and Marion, but between Eddie and the owner of a picture-framing store. Here, the actors and Williams finally find the perfect balance between poignant drama and comedy. It not only hints at what Williams is capable of as a screenwriter, but also lets us imagine how wonderful this film could have been.

"The Door in the Floor" is really bad. Really, really bad. Yes, Jeff Bridges is good. But so what? Even a great actor and a great performance can do just so much with crappy material, and God is this material crappy. I should have been prepared for that, as it's based on a portion of a John Irving novel. True to Irving form, the premise of this film tries too hard to provoke and the results seem arbitrary and juvenile. It's a shame, because there could have been an interesting story here. O.k. so two parents trying to deal with the grief of losing children isn't exactly new, but handled well that kind of story can always be effective. And the added complexity of having Kim Basinger's character turn to a teenage lover as a sort of surrogate for her two lost boys should have added some spice to the drama. So why does this film just limp along lamely, culminating in a cliché, "here's what happened" finale. Don't bother.... Grade: F

I haven't been so angered by a movie for a long time. I can forgive well intentioned films that fail on some accounts. Certain movies badness even may hold some special charm. But nothing is as riling as pure pretentiousness. Director Tod Williams clearly set out to make a "deep", "meaningful" film. Every frame, every sentence cries out, take note as to how deep and meaningful this is. In reality the main characters are so lacking in substance thanks to an atrocious screenplay, that it is well neigh impossible to evoke any kind of empathy at all. In fact, they wind up a pretty annoying bunch. The inner dialog that seems to taking place is that this film is saying, you are watching a great piece of art, while you are answering, no, this is crap. Art isn't easy. Jeff Bridges turns in a memorable performance, despite the stilted, unnatural dialog his is asked to spew. Kim Basinger comes off less well, since her character is so inherently untrue. It's not her fault, nobody could make this role work, it just is not possible. What possessed poor Mimi Rodgers to join this project ? She gets to be scrupulously filmed in the *, in perhaps not the most flattering manner, and then is required to turn manic; all this owing to her obsession with the Bridges character. It's all pretty ludicrous stuff dealt up with much heavy handed seriousness. While well shot, this movie is a lesson in shoddy editing. Scenes terminate too soon, or no not soon enough, jumping to other scenes with absolutely no sense of rhythm or style. To this unfortunate concoction is added a tired, downright boring musical soundtrack, more suitable to television melodrama than to so called serious cinema. I have always felt that John Irving's books simply do not need to be made into films. "Garp", "New Hampshire" and "Cider House Rules" only managed showed brief glimpses of Irving's unique literary charms and to my mind, somewhat spoiled these novels which I found so enjoyable. Those were made by reputable directors such as George Roy Hill and Tony Richardson. Irving should certainly not have entrusted his novel in the hands of novice Tod Williams.

Jeff Bridges, whom I adore as an actor, is forced to play some awful unbelievable author who apparently is famous for writing the most horrendous story for a child I have ever seen...who varies daily between ignoring or brain washing his own little girl because he is some manipulative psycho...he, who has a wife (KIM Bassinger)that obviously has had a complete breakdown and is in serious need of medical attention, but is ignored and enabled and manipulated into slowly drifting into horrible neglect of her daughter, an inappropriate son like sexual affair with a strange boy who she likens to one of her favourite dead sons, and virtual insanity and eventual abandonment of her child...Kim Bassinger is a hapless helpless victim of this maniacal man...a man I might continue...who "lures" some eager student,with the promise of making him a great writer into his horrid life but really only wants him to be his driver and his wife's sex therapist? Can this get more unreal...but no add on a man an author who is also a painter...who takes women and pretends to paint them as models while actually manipulating them into sexual relationships only to end up slowly humiliating them, destroying their confidence, betraying their trust, violating them, truth be told... This brief rant of mine doesn't even touch on the completely unreal characters of the boy the wife the daughter the baby sitter...all who apparently just stand by and watch him do all these horrible things to each of them and do nothing but one sorry act of keeping one silly picture for a tormented child in the end?? Good grief......This film was an absolute mess of totally self absorbed people who were completely manipulated and completely self centered and completely unrealistic!! Thankfully unreal; because if you knew anyone like any of them ...for god sakes run and please, please, take that poor child with you don't just give her some picture and leave her with him...... arghhhhhhhhhh hated this film....in so many ways...

I loved "Widow For One Year" and was a bit skeptical about "A Door In The Floor". I just didn't see it translating well on screen and I have to admit I'm not a Kim Basinger fan either. Well I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the screenplay and the acting. Yes I felt sad that the other complex part of the story was omitted but after hearing John Irvings comments in the bonus features he put my sadness to rest. I completely see where he was coming from on the difficulties of portraying the other events to be true to the intended meaning. Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger were very compelling. Kim Basinger did a brilliant job at coming across as a sympathetic character while remaining emotional hardened in a state that allowed her to leave her daughter and sleep with a young teenage boy. One of the things I love best about John Irving is that he creates characters so flawed yet so redeemable and complex. He show the other side of the coin to making bad choices vs. good. He shows that to each screwed up life there are stories of how people get there and how everything around them contributes to who they become. Because of pain some submit to fears, some submit to pleasures, some submit to sorrow. And although some learn to conquer the emotions and pains of life, some don't, and for them it seems Irving wants us to see that they do the best they can to survive it and protect those they love in their own messed up ways. Underneath these characters that seem morally challenged is pain and the desire to survive it. I guess having said that it is sad that Ruth's story was never told. All things considered this was a very good movie based on a brilliant book.

This movie is tripe. No it's worse than three day old tripe. It's flotsam. Mean-spirited and drawn out. The only likable character is the poor neglected 4 year old. Basinger is well suited to the role because it just requires her to look blankly out at the sea. The characters are so stilted and constipated in their emotions. Very fake and contrived feeling to this movie. "Bridges, who carries the film for its entirety, gets absolutely no help from the Academy Award winning Basinger whose hollow character seems more lazily portrayed than it should especially when sharing screen time with novice actor Foster. Their relationship makes about as much sense as a blind man wearing glasses. With tiresome character development and a strenuous screenplay to get involved in, "The Door in the Floor" quickly becomes a pit of despair."

Based on the title, I really didn't know what to expect and enjoyed discovering the story as the focus shifted from picture to picture - is it about the writer, his wife or the young boy who arrives as an assistant... The narrative develops slowly, giving you many possibilities to get into the atmosphere of the Cole family, with feelings, images, impressions, a time to absorb. The other thing I liked about this movie is Kim Basinger; still looks stunning and even better as time goes by and it's refreshing to see her in a serious role, in something different from the 9 1/2 weeks and Batman style. I really loved the ending. As simple, so deep it was. I liked the silence before the cast started to roll and the music to play, I needed that. It's refreshing that a director finally can give us this luxury, just to let us sit still for a little while to digest what was happening on the big screen. Don't miss it - 10/10