Misery: Critic Reviews

Kathy Bates has a gift for playing cheerily hostile, paranoid misfits.

Misery is a blunt instrument that fractures the kneecaps more often than it tickles the funnybone.

A weak handshake of a movie, it is slightly repellent -- hardly gripping, much less knuckle-whitening.

It is a good story, a natural, and it grabs us.

A skillfully pared-down (if psychologically thin) horror thriller.

Bates has a field day with her role, creating a quirky, memorable object of hate.

Popular moviemaking -- elegantly economical, artlessly artful -- doesn't get much better than this.

A quality film of suspense and manipulation.

Director Rob Reiner creates an atmosphere of tense horror wrapped around rich dialogue ("Cockadoodie dirty birdie!"), and in the process, he gets sterling performances from Caan and Bates.

Kathy Bates brilliantly portrays Annie as someone with absolutely no sense of her own monstrosity.

Except for the flat, compromised ending, Reiner's smooth direction and Goldman's nicely structured script make this version of King's novella enjoyable as a horror flick and psychological thriller, not to mention Kathy Bates' superb turn as the wacko fan

Director Rob Reiner is clearly more comfortable with the humor and humanity than the gory horror in King's grisly tale.

From start to harrowing finish, it is blissfully apparent that Rob Reiner can indeed turn his hand to virtually anything.

The dark duet between Paul and the frankly psychopathic Annie is played to tense perfection.

Rob Reiner builds Stephen King's tale with clean, effortless strokes.

Sweat-inducing suspense thriller.

Reiner captures just the right level of physical tension, but for the most part wisely emphasises the mental duels. Terrific.

It's a definite KEEPER!!

Superb!

Horrifying tale with deserved Oscar performance by Kathy Bates.

A first-rate suspense film with excellent performances.

Not as good as the book, but Kathy Bates is perfect