“Finally, to weekends away.”

“With best friends.”

Kate and Beth, The Weekend Away

I loved this book but this movie was a let down. I love Leighton Meester and was excited to see her playing the role of a new mom trying to get back into the world but that was almost the only highlight from the film. The acting felt forced and there were so many changes that were not necessary from the book that it distracted me. But the ending of the movie was different from that of the book, which was twist I didn’t know I needed.

SPOILER ALERT

First thing’s first: I am the most understanding when it comes to changes being made from books to movies. They are different mediums for storytelling and therefore require a different approach to the same story sometimes. We don’t always want a narrator to tell us what the characters are thinking in a movie like we do in books. So I get it.

BUT.

I will NEVER understand why we change the names of characters. The names don’t change the story but they are distracting to people who have read the books and for what cause? What does changing the name of a character bring to a movie? It’s change for the sake of change and nothing else.

And this movie did it THREE TIMES. Three characters that were mentioned numerous times in the book had their names changed. This is an example of a director thinking they know better than the author and it’s ridiculous. They also changed the name of the bar they visit, which, again, doesn’t change the movie so why bother changing it?

There were a few things in the movie that were changed in regards to the plot but it was mainly for pacing and clarity, which I didn’t mind. We didn’t need to know that the escorts were in design or that it was actually the cab driver’s cousin who picked up Kate because it didn’t matter and would have slowed the movie down unnecessarily. See? I’m fine with changes, just not pointless ones.

The end of the movie was different from the book too but I actually liked this ending better than before. She still figures out that her husband did it but not at the exact moment that she has handed off her kid to him and then ends the book looking around for him and her baby. The book had no closure but the movie wrapped it up nicely – she makes him confess while she’s on the phone with the police and then takes her baby and leaves. It’s as happy of an ending as we could hope for Beth who is clearly the main victim in this whole story.

SUMMARY

I will recommend this book over and over again but the movie…. leaves something to be desired. I don’t feel like I wasted my hour and a half watching it, but I won’t be watching it again.

RATING: D