Mary Reilly offers a new spin on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", and in that respect; this really should have been a lot better. In fact, whichever way you look at it; this should have been a better film. The story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a great base for a story, and it's shocking to see that this is all that could be mustered. I don't know if Valerie Martin's novel is any better; but given the fact that a film was made of it, I'm inclined to think that it is. The film sees the shocking transformation of Dr Jekyll into Mr Hyde from the point of view of the good doctor's maid, who just so happens to be called Mary Reilly. This is interesting because is shows the story we already know from a different perspective, thus giving it new life; but it loses so much in terms of the focus of the actual story; things such as the reasons for the experiments, and the crimes committed by Mr Hyde aren't touched on at all, and that means that any interest generated by change of perspective is swiftly cancelled out.
The film stars Julia Roberts, who takes the lead role. It's not a good performance from her; the atmosphere around her gives the impression that she's either uncomfortable or bored (or both), and that ensures that she's never much fun to watch. The usually brilliant John Malkovich takes the double role of Dr Jekyll and his alter ego, and even he fails to make an interesting go of it. He's this film's biggest asset - but his performance loses credibility due to the fact that Mr Hyde is OBVIOUSLY the same person as Dr Jekyll! The fact that it's based on a story we all know doesn't help the film where the plotting is concerned. The audience knows that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are different versions of the same man - and that means we are left waiting for the characters to catch up. Mary Reilly makes this dramatic irony it's centrepiece, and it's not a good move as any intrigue is killed before it has chance to get off the ground. To be fair, the film does a few good moments of suspense - but these are few and far between, and all I can recommend doing with this film is missing it, and seeing either Rouben Mamoulian's 1931 classic, or the hilarious Hammer take; Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde!
The film stars Julia Roberts, who takes the lead role. It's not a good performance from her; the atmosphere around her gives the impression that she's either uncomfortable or bored (or both), and that ensures that she's never much fun to watch. The usually brilliant John Malkovich takes the double role of Dr Jekyll and his alter ego, and even he fails to make an interesting go of it. He's this film's biggest asset - but his performance loses credibility due to the fact that Mr Hyde is OBVIOUSLY the same person as Dr Jekyll! The fact that it's based on a story we all know doesn't help the film where the plotting is concerned. The audience knows that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are different versions of the same man - and that means we are left waiting for the characters to catch up. Mary Reilly makes this dramatic irony it's centrepiece, and it's not a good move as any intrigue is killed before it has chance to get off the ground. To be fair, the film does a few good moments of suspense - but these are few and far between, and all I can recommend doing with this film is missing it, and seeing either Rouben Mamoulian's 1931 classic, or the hilarious Hammer take; Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde!