Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Frances Sternhagen, Richard Farnsworth, Lauren Bacall

Director: Rob Reiner

Summary: When author Paul Sheldon suffers a car accident in a blizzard, he thanks his lucky stars that nurse Annie Wilkes was on hand... That is until he discovers that she's his number one fan and has no intention of ever letting him go. Based on the novel by Stephen King.

Romance author Paul Sheldon (James Caan) longs to be rid of Misery, his plucky heroine of seven novels. She has delivered him fame and fortune and recognition beyond the average writer's dreams, but she is also interminably linked to him. Determined to escape an eternal role as pulp novelist, he kills her off in the eighth novel and heads to his New England cabin to work on his own Great American Novel. Upon completion, Sheldon excitedly sets out for his New York City publisher in the midst of a raging blizzard and within minutes veers into a desolate snowbank. From the brink of death, he is rescued from the snow by Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who just so happens to be Misery's self-professed biggest fan. At first, she nurses him back to health in her remote cabin, telling him the roads and phones are damaged by the storm, fawning over his literary accomplishments. However, things change when she purchases his eighth Misery book and reaches the point of Misery's death. Annie's psychotic underbelly swiftly surfaces as the unfortunate author is held clandestinely captive in her home. Meanwhile, a wily small-town sheriff (Richard Farnsworth) circles in...
Director Rob Reiner's adaptation of Stephen King's novel is an eerie tale of obsessiveness and isolation. The film features an excellent turn by Caan and an Oscar-winning performance by Bates.

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Based on the chilling bestseller by Stephen King, Miserywas brought to the screen by director Rob Reiner as one of the most effective thrillers of the 1990s. From a brilliant adaptation by screenwriter William Goldman, Reiner turned King's cautionary tale of fame and idolatry into a mainstream masterpiece of escalating suspense, translating King's own experience with obsessive fans into a frightening tale of entrapment and psychotic behavior. Kathy Bates deservedly won an Academy Award for her performance as Annie Wilkes, an unbalanced devotee of romance novels written by Paul Sheldon (James Caan), whose books provide Annie with a much-needed escape from her pathetic life and her secret, violent past. After Annie rescues the injured Sheldon from a car accident, she seizes the opportunity to nurse her favorite writer back to health, but her tender loving care soon turns to terrorism as she demands that Sheldon write his latest novel according to her wish-fulfillment fantasies. From this point forward, Miserypercolates to a boil as equal parts mystery, thriller, and cleverly dark comedy, with the helpless author pitched in deadly warfare against his number one fan. While Bates carefully modulates her role from doting kindness to sympathetic loneliness and finally to horrifying ferocity, Caan is equally superb as the celebrated author who must literally write for his life. It's essentially a two-actor film, but Richard Farnsworth and Lauren Bacall are excellent in supporting roles as they investigate the writer's mysterious disappearance. Frightening, funny, and totally irresistible, Miserywas such a hit that some of Bates's dialogue entered the popular lexicon (particularly her nagging reference to Caan as "Mister Man"), and its nail-biting thrills remain timelessly intense. --Jeff Shannon

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Commentary - 1. Rob Reiner, 2. William Goldman, Documentary - 1. MISERY LOVES COMPANY, Marc Shaiman's Musical Misery Tour, Theatrical Trailer, Teaser Trailer, Photo Gallery
Year:	1990
Release Date:	July 28, 2003
Runtime:	103 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	19896 C D V D
Keywords:	Special, General, Edition, Stephen, Misery, Thriller, King's
Genre:	Thriller