This updating of George Eliot's novel
"Silas Marner" to contemporary America is just weird enough to be of
more than passing interest but if its story-line seems far-fetched to say
the least, remember it's a Victorian melodrama that was probably hard
to swallow even when Eliot wrote it. Steve Martin is the Silas Marner
character who finds a baby abandoned in the snow and through her finds a
new meaning in life. The child's natural father is corrupt politician
Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney is Byrne's wife who wants to adopt
the child.
Given the material, (Martin did the screenplay
himself), they aren't really that bad and it's always good to see
Catherine O'Hara, (the local woman with a soft spot for Martin), in any
role and at least Martin does manage to inject a degree of comedy into
the proceedings that just about alleviates the overall yuckiness. The
director was Gillies MacKinnon, better known for somewhat more
hard-nosed pictures. This has a 'made-for-tv' feel to it and is much too cosy for my tastes.
This updating of George Eliot's novel
"Silas Marner" to contemporary America is just weird enough to be of
more than passing interest but if its story-line seems far-fetched to say
the least, remember it's a Victorian melodrama that was probably hard
to swallow even when Eliot wrote it. Steve Martin is the Silas Marner
character who finds a baby abandoned in the snow and through her finds a
new meaning in life. The child's natural father is corrupt politician
Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney is Byrne's wife who wants to adopt
the child.
Given the material, (Martin did the screenplay
himself), they aren't really that bad and it's always good to see
Catherine O'Hara, (the local woman with a soft spot for Martin), in any
role and at least Martin does manage to inject a degree of comedy into
the proceedings that just about alleviates the overall yuckiness. The
director was Gillies MacKinnon, better known for somewhat more
hard-nosed pictures. This has a 'made-for-tv' feel to it and is much too cosy for my tastes.
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