Adaption of book reminds me of The Getaway

Bearing in mind that the book's author adapted it for the screen, the degree to which the film pulls many of the book's punches reminds me of both screen adaptations of Jim Thompson's The Getaway. Film versions, along with updating the setting, portray Doc McCoy as a far more decent person than he is in the novel. & the movies' endings are downright euphoric compared to one of the darkest finales in all of crime literature. I honestly believe that Steve McQueen just didn't want to portray a character as evil as Thompson's McCoy in the Peckinpah version, & the same screenplay, more or less, was used in the remake.

Similarly, a Simple Plan loses much of the darkness that made it such a memorable novel.

Certainly some passages had to be cut to preserve running time. But Jacob's fate in particular is altered to the point where it seems as though the filmmakers just lost their nerve--I might be wrong, but I find it hard to believe the author made the changes entirely of his own accord (for that matter I honestly believe Stephen King was just being a team player when he endorsed the much darker finale to The Mist--his original ending was much, much better).

I'd probably have enjoyed the movie & want to see it again had I not first read the book.