REVIEWS

The Cider House Rules 
http://www.eonline.com/

our grade 
A- 
users grade 
B+ 

Our Review: 
Not to take anything away from John Irving's prose, but this film version of his novel benefits from the trimming. The setting is Maine during WWII; Maguire plays Homer, an orphan raised by a doctor (Caine) who tutors him in medicine and grooms him to run the institution where he lives--until he leaves with a soldier (Rudd) and his ravishing girlfriend (Theron), that is. The flyboy gives Homer a job on his apple farm, living in the cider house with the migrant laborers, where a love triangle forms and dark tragedies ensue. Director Hallstrom gives Irving's saga superb emotional pacing without letting things get heavy-handed. Maguire and Theron are good as simple people in a complex situation, but it's Caine and cider house boss Lindo who give the film its polish.