Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

The Door in the Floor
2004
**½
Director: Tod Williams
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, Jon Foster, Elle Fanning, Mimi Rogers

No one has completely successfully filmed John Irving's writing, and this adaptation of the first third of A Widow for One Year is no exception. The story is about a writer and his wife who've been through family tragedy and are about to break up when he hires a horny teenage boy as his assistant for one summer. The novel was about the couple's four-year-old daughter, the film is about the parents; the boy in the middle seems like a narrator turned character who just goes with the flow. Irving's characters are carefully drawn and his sprawling stories easily mix humour with heartbreaking drama. The film, once again, ends up feeling too story-driven, awkwardly unfocused and trivial.