MovieChat Forums > The Fundamentals of Caring (2016) Discussion > Movie was decent but the novel is way be...

Movie was decent but the novel is way better

posted 9 years ago by !!!deleted!!! (65695442)
5 replies | jump to latest

I haven't read the novel in a couple of years but I don't recall Trevor's mother being from the UK. There were a lot of scenes taken out from the novel but the part that got me disappointed the most was when Ben breaks down apologizing for what happened to his ex wife saying that the accident was his fault. At that moment in the novel the ex wife comforts him and forgives him. It would've been a wonderful scene to watch in the movie. Overall the movie did a pretty good job depicting the novel but it was strange how they decided to take out the daughter and only have Ben have a son in the film.

Edit- I guess for the budget they didn't want to add another actor to play the daughter.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (65695442) 9 years ago

Bump, anyone else read the novel?

[–] Lexiii67 9 years ago

I hadn't heard of it until today, but I will be buying it.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (65695442) 9 years ago

Yeah I'm surprised none of the trailers said based on the novel but I guess in a way it could be a good thing since it'll let the audience watch it with a fresh mind. Unlike myself, I was expecting to see certain scenes especially the emotional scene that I mentioned. It would've been great to see Paul Rudd show his dramatic and emotional side

[–] steven-rick-garcia 9 years ago

I haven't read the novel yet, but some thoughts:

I felt there was already a lot on the plate here with Ben and Trevor. If they had included his daughter, I think that would have just been extraneous stuff that we as the audience didn't need to really know about. The movie was more about Ben dealing with the death of his son; spending more time on a character that doesn't really play a role in the story (correct me if I'm wrong, again I haven't read the book) is a waste of screen time.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (65695442) 9 years ago

Yeah but in the novel there were some lovely flashback scenes of Ben talking to his kids but the film probably didn't have the budget and wanted to go straight to the point.

I was a bit disappointed how they portrayed Trevor's father.
yeah he may have left Trev at a young age but the father put the effort to try to hang out with Trevor by even going to his house near the beginning of the book. You feel some sort of sympathy towards the father because he's trying his best to redeem himself to Trevor. The whole trip idea was Trevor's idea if I recall correctly. Like I said, it would've been wonderful to see Paul Rudd show a big emotional scene. That part in the novel got me really teary eyed and I couldn't wait to see it on screen.