This was inspired by a favorite YouTube Channel, Jerome Weiselberry, who does tons of book and movie reviews. On one she mentioned a movie I watched and despised; 2017’s The Bookshop, with Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy. Husband was very amused at my spontaneous exclamation of “THAT MOVIE SUCKED BALLS,” so that inspired this: this week we’re all going to list, specifically. books, movies, or a combo of them that seemed to promise something right up our alley, while in actually dropping poison in our lemonade.
(And because rage cannot be deliniated without specifics, unfortunately, spoilers will abound. Please put a note where yours begin in case someone wants to experience their own snarling disbelief.)
SO. SPOILERS.
The reason I hate this movie so much isn’t because it betrays its source material (same plot in the same order) but because it was marketed as this sweet love story with books and intellect, while in reality is about this poor woman whose only goal is to open a bookshop in this rundown old house in town that’s been abandoned and on the market for years, only to have the ENTIRE populace throw a fit about it, like she’s running a brothel.
Nobody says hey, if you cared so much about this place you’ve had literal YEARS to buy it and do something with it, the love interest ends up DYING, and the woman basically gets bought out against her will by the National Trust declaring the place historic and losing everything she owns! And then the place BURNS DOWN! Again, not unfaithful to the source, but my God, hardly the sweet story promised to viewers.
I really would like to take the marketing/promotion team to harsh and dictatorial task for their deliberately misleading campaign for this film. I hadn’t been that pissed at a movie since You’ve Got Mail (don’t get me started.)
So! What book, movie or combo dressed up as your dream date, only to morph into a joy-devouring ghoul once you sat down to watch or read? Let’s line the doorways with salt!