They should've scrapped that part and just left it to the car breaks down and the dog. That's it.
cocktailssssss.
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I really didn't think of it like that, maybe cause I felt King spent way too much time talking about it in the book so I too kinda felt the movie could've done without it.
Something tells me the people of Earth are gonna need me.share
The cheating affair is important because the husband thinked immediately that she ran away with her lover. As you can see he's nervous but he's quite calm 'till he discovered that the policeman didn't come back from the mechanic...
That would have gotten extremely boring for 2 hours.
And the flowers are STILL standing!
I looked at it as the wife did something wrong, and now she was paying for it.
My job is to inform, not persuade- Dan Rather
Uh, yeah.
And the flowers are STILL standing!
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That's interesting to know. I had no idea, at least you told me instead that Jake person saying "Uh yeah." if you don't know, don't say a word.
My job is to inform, not persuade- Dan Rather
What I found off about it in the movie is her hubby is an absolute DREAM BOAT! The handy-man dude is a scruffy looking loser! Why would she cheat with him!?
Of course it's different in the book and it's explained, although Donna's excuse is pretty flimsy IMO! Kemp is also such an effing bastard in the book, I hoped he would go look for them at Camber's to yell at Donna or something and then get mauled by Cujo, he was such scum!
What I found off about it in the movie is her hubby is an absolute DREAM BOAT!
Precisely. I don't understand how some people on here can actually make out that the husband is the heel in this story. He was not shown doing anything wrong to her, and he was a great father to his kid, even taking the time to keep his promise to write down the "Monster Words" so mom would know them before he left, even though he was in a very bad emotional/mental place (possibly losing his account, his wife cheating on him, etc.)
He seemed like a pretty alright guy. She even tells scruffy that she has a great husband and a great kid, and here she is *beep* around with him. She basically admits she's being an idiot, and is totally in the wrong.
I was saying "Uh yeah" because I have no idea why you said it in reply to what I said.
And the flowers are STILL standing!
I know the original post has been here for a while, so I don't know if I'll get an answer to my question. But I was curious about what was behind the objection to the cheating plot element. For example, was this poster thinking that including the affair took too much time away from focusing on the more dramatic final scenes (thus, making the movie's pace too slow), or perhaps that portraying Donna as cheating on her husband makes it harder for viewers to care about her survival later on in the scenes with Cujo. Or was it something else entirely?
I recently saw this movie again with the director's commentary and thought he shared a couple of interesting points related to the character development prior to Donna and Tad becoming trapped in the car.
First, one cut of the movie apparently included a more explicit sex scene between Donna and Kemp, which test audiences didn't seem to like. The explanation was that the movie had begun by showing the Trentons in a certain way and the scene was just too far outside of what the viewers had come to expect from Donna. So, the film crew ended up keeping the affair storyline but changed how it was shown on-screen.
Second, when test audiences initially viewed the movie, their feedback revealed a pattern of being highly interested in the characters during the first third of the movie, a bit bored during the second third, and of course most interested/excited during the final third. So, the film crew edited out some of the character development scenes and showed it again. But this time the audience's interest level was similar to the previous screening during the early scenes and noticeably lower than before during the later scenes. As a result, they ended up putting back some of the cut character development scenes, concluding that even though they slowed down the pace of the movie a bit, they were necessary to help the viewers understand and care about the characters enough to later feel invested in their survival during the scenes with Cujo.
Of course, all of this is not intended to dispute the original poster's opinion. Everybody has a right to their own opinion and knows best what they would personally prefer to see in a movie. I just thought the director's comments on the subject were interesting and worth sharing, as it seems that during the creative process, he wrestled quite a bit with how much of the book's plotlines to try to include in the movie.
I totally disagree with that. The cheating subplot gave the movie an extra level. It almost seemed as if she was being punished for sleeping with that scumbag while being married to a good guy and having a child. I think it gives the viewer a subconconcious feeling of satisfaction to see her terrorized like that. Religious people will even view it as some kind of punishment from God. It was brilliant. The film would have been flat without that character development.
"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'
It almost seemed as if she was being punished for sleeping with that scumbag while being married to a good guy and having a child.
I'm not surprised she wondered that; guilt will do that, and it is normal to think this way. i really don't understand how someone could think this film would be nearly as effective without that the whole affair subplot..
"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'
Exactly. That's the whole reasoning for the delay in looking for Donna and Tad after the police are involved, the lead investigator thinks Donna may have just run off with her lover.
Cutting out major plot points is what they always do when making a film based on a book. And it's usually what ruins the film, and what pisses people off.
"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'
I think the whole thing of "justified punishment for cheating" is such simplistic bullshit, though.
I mean, how much more morally simplistic can you get? It's not very sophisticated plotting, it's pretty medieval, biblical even.
I find that so kindergarten, and a typical male revenge storyline against the cheating woman.
Funny thing is, men cheat way more yet nobody sees fit to decide they ought to be punished in a story for it. Total bullshit male patriarchal thinking.
Maybe she cheated on him because he made her drive a fucking Pinto and didn't care.
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Well it worked in the book as she was leaving him. Tad dying brought the marriage back together through grief.
shareDonna’s affair seems to trigger the events in Cujo as a harsh consequence. King might be exploring how fate or God balances the scales, punishing Donna while also freeing Charity Camber from her abusive husband. It’s as if fate used this tragedy to change lives in different ways.
shareI had thought that, too, but why punish Tad?
shareThat’s what makes it so tragic. Tad didn’t deserve it, but sometimes the innocent are caught in the consequences of someone else’s actions. Donna’s affair triggered a chain reaction, and in abandoning the love that created Tad, she indirectly brought this fate upon him. It’s as if the Universe (or God) punished her in the most devastating way possible, making her lose what she cherished most to teach her a painful lesson. When she cheated on such a loving providing father, it was like she was telling the Universe (or God) that she didn't deserve the fruit that was created from the love that she abandoned.
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