Review by sherwoodbandit-1977

It is well documented that as a Stephen King superfan, I don't think much of the vast majority of screen adaptations of his work. I've written often about it, so I won't waste time here other than to say that the only ones that have worked for me are the films void of anything supernatural like Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption. With that in mind, I recently reread Gerald's Game for the first time since it was published and figured it was time to check out the Netflix adaptation. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to easily be among the best King adaptations of all time. Mike Flanagan made many wise choices about how to slim it down in order to fixate on the primary characters and more importantly, squeeze it into a svelte hour and forty run time. This is especially good news for Bruce Greenwood. I've always liked his work, but I wondered why they spent so much money on a great actor that would have very little bearing on the plot. Enter Flanagan who smartly decided to have Gerald be one of the primary voices in her head rather than her college roommate from the novel. This helped Flanagan utilize one of his greatest assets to his fullest potential. I am a big fan of Carla Gugino and thought she was the perfect choice for the role. This is primarily her story and she made full use of her vast array of talent throughout, both as the woman trapped and the other voice inside her head. I was equally surprised and relieved that they leaned into the subject matter rather than shy away from it. While this topic often makes us uncomfortable, it is entirely necessary to this particular story and removing or watering it down would have only served to gut the message. My only minor complaint is directed at King himself. I've never been satisfied with his resolution of The Moonlight Man from the novel and this adaptation kept it the same. Perhaps it was important to King that Jesse have a positive resolution, or perhaps his family urged him to end it happily for once. Nevertheless, I've always felt that It was a copout, when it could have been left to the reader to decide if he was real or not. Overall, this is an outstanding adaptation of a great novel and it gave me hope that it was still possible for some of his other work.