Rating: 
Summary: A movie for grown-ups
Review: Just when thoughtful adults despair that Hollywood will never again make movies for them to enjoy, Cider House Rules comes along and gives everybody reason to hope. From its wide, opening shot to its literary ending, this film delivers to its audience an old-fashioned, satisfying, movie-going experience while at the same time focusing on quite a surprising topic: abortion. Framed with Dickensian sympathy for all its characters, Cider House weaves its way in and out of the lives of half a dozen startlingly original people, many of them quite unusual for mainstream cinema. Michael Caine picked up the Oscar (he's a great actor but he's become a kind of beloved pet for middle-aged movie fans) as a drug-addicted humanitarian, yet Delroy Lindo gives the most haunting and complex performance as the black foreman of an apple-picking crew who loves his daughter too much. Tobey Maguire and Charlize Theron make this long film continuously watchable and even warmly sunny despite its repeated turns into dark material, and a gaggle of adorable moppet orphans keep tugging at the heart strings, but not so much you feel abused. A rare modern day classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth seeing - many times
Review: "The Cider House Rules" is a great movie. Engaging and touching throughout, it pulls you in immediately and keeps you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what's going to happen next. Lasse Hallstrom's direction is just right, and the film is cast equally well. Michael Caine does a great job (big surprise) as Dr. Wilbur Larch, the director of the Maine orphanage where a great deal of the story takes place. He certainly deserved his Oscar for this role, and if I had seen the movie before that year's awards I certainly would have been rooting for him!Charlize Theron is just right for the part of Candy, as is Paul Rudd as her husband Wally. Singer Erykah Badu turns in an impressive performance as the daughter of the owner of the titular cider house. But, in my opinion, the nicest part of this film is Tobey Maguire, who plays the central character, Homer Wells. The role seems to have been written for him. Having seen him previously in "Spider-Man," I wasn't really left with any particular impression of his abilities as an actor, but this movie totally sold me on him. I'll watch anything else he's in now - who knows, I wouldn't even be surprised to find myself sitting through "Spider-Man 2". To sum up, this is a really worthwhile, multifaceted film - sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking (and sometimes both at once, which means you have a warm broken heart...). Now I want to read John Irving's book!
Rating:
Summary: Shy towards Women Despite Impecable Gynecological Technique
Review: I loved this movie a lot, but I wonder what pro-lifers and radical right-wingers thought about it. Tobey McGuire is excellent as the shy, quiet, yet adorable hero named Homer Wells in this movie. He is not as gung-ho on being an abortionist as Dr. Larch (Michael Caine)seems to be in an orphanage/birth/abortion clinic. With very little forethought or explanation Homer decides to leave the only home he has ever known and tag along with a young couple. Candy (Charlize Theron) is about to return to her normal life after having an abortion. Wally is about to leave his normal life for the War. Homer, a pediatrician in every sense but the formal training and credentials, finds paradise in the incredibly simple life of an apple-picker. As such he rubs elbows with and shares a bunkhouse with African-American, illiterate, migrant workers. He falls in a kind of naive, complacent, passive, romantic/sexual love with Candy and gives little mind to how to keep her from getting pregnant again. The issue of incest pops up later but the details would reveal too much to the reader who hasn't yet seen the movie. The ending is not entirely predictable and very pleasant - in a tragi-comedy sort of way. McGuire is absolutely excellent and you really can find nothing to hate about him or his character. Caine is fair in a role that I think others would have excelled at. Theron is amazingly dull and her character would only attract McGuire's character given the latter's relative inexperience with girls/women (except, ironically, in gynecological skill). Kieron Culkin's Buster character pulls at your heart strings and you really get to know Arthur Rose (Delroy Lindo) and Rose Rose (Eryka Badu) even though most of the drama between the two occurs elsewhere.
The movie has its problems. Candy is really not as sexy and loveable as she ought to be. Homer seems to be intellectually gifted yet picks apples for more than a full season without getting bored. He also fails to be assertive as the love of his life drifts away. The screenplay is quite shallow in many ways. For example, Homer is the only character developed in the orphanage scenes, despite the fact of having Jane Alexander, Kathy Baker, and several, endearing, child actors as a great supporting cast. At other times the screenplay is brilliant such as all the commentary slid in about abortion as a necessary evil which is at conflict with Homer's respect for life. Yet the bias towards pro-choice and the decriminalization of abortion is obviously too slanted. Likewise the incest issue is treated almost as being a tolerable evil when Homer and everyone else should be outraged by the taboo. I am not sure I can sympathize with a man who cuts another man for throwing a cigarrette butt in the cider yet tells Homer to mind his own business as to the biological father of Rose's unborn child.
Still despite these problems I have enjoyed wathcing the movie every time (about 5) I have watched it. But then I wonder how more conservative people view it.
Rating: 
Summary: Typical Academy Award Nominee Movie
Review: Although it tries to create some controversy about key issues like abortion or incest, this movie is nothing more than an average story about two cute innocent youngsters who begin to deal with the real world and its diverse difficulties. Director Lasse Hallstrom intends to deliver some mildly shocking material here to provide thoughtful deep questions, but it is presented in a common, simplified and almost soap opera-like way. The rest is a sweet little romance between the appealing leads Tobey Maguire and Charlize Theron, two cofused young adults who don`t understand their envoironment. To their credit, they perform their roles well, as does Michael Caine, so there`s still a reason to watch the movie. Overall, though, it`s just another fluffy well-made Hollywood movie with pleasant direction and a plot that could have been from an above average TV-movie. Probably worth watching once, and that`s it.
Rating:
Summary: A Heavy Subject But Great Acting
Review: THE CIDER HOUSE RULES is a movie that deals with tough questions but does not provide any easy answers. It is based on a novel by John Irving and adapted for the screen by the author. The story is mostly about life and death at an orphanage in Maine called St. Cloud's before and during World war II. In particular it is about a boy (Tobey Maguire) who is twice rejected by prospective parents and returned to the orphanage. He is then trained by the director (Michael Caine) of St. Cloud's to be his assistant as an obstetrician and gynocologist. With great sadness Maguire leaves St. Cloud's as a young man to see the world and ends up on the Maine coast where he works on an apple farm with migrant workers. Because of the heavy subject matter the mood is often sombre and some of the incidents involving the orphans seem especially heartbreaking. Tobey Maguire is superb in the leading role as Homer Wells. Michael Caine is excellent as Dr. Wilbur Larch. The rest of the strong supporting cast includes Charlize Theron, Delroy Lindo, Paul Rudd, Erykah Badu and Kate Nelligan. Lasse Hallstrom is known as the director of several other fine films including CHOCOLAT and MY LIFE AS A DOG. THE CIDER HOUSE RULES won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (Michael Caine) and Adapted screenplay. It also received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director (Lasse Hallstrom), Editing, Original Score and Art Direction.
Rating:
Summary: A Guide to the Rules
Review: A sensitive and intelligent character-driven film, adapted from John Irving's novel by the author himself, which features truly breathtaking cinematography, a lush musical score, and uniformly excellent performances by a formidable cast which includes Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Delroy Lindo, Paul Rudd, Kathy Baker, Jane Alexander, and supporting Oscar-winner Michael Caine. The main plot line centers around a young man (Maguire), raised in an orphanage headed by a charismatic doctor (Caine), who decides to venture out into the world and learns the hard way that life is not merely black and white, but many subtle variations of gray. While this is hardly a unique theme, the characters in "Cider House Rules" are so exquisitely drawn, and the movie so masterfully produced, that everything which might in lesser hands seem overly familiar appears fresh, new, and distinctive. The DVD offers a perfect sound and video transfer, and includes a nice selection of "extras", including a documentary on the making of the film, the original Theatrical Trailer, and highlights of the television ad campaign. Overall, the DVD is an exemplary presentation of a bona fide modern classic, and one that's well worth multiple viewings.
Rating:
Summary: Worth seeing - many times
Review: "The Cider House Rules" is a great movie. Engaging and touching throughout, it pulls you in immediately and keeps you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what's going to happen next. Lasse Hallstrom's direction is just right, and the film is cast equally well. Michael Caine does a great job (big surprise) as Dr. Wilbur Larch, the director of the Maine orphanage where a great deal of the story takes place. He certainly deserved his Oscar for this role, and if I had seen the movie before that year's awards I certainly would have been rooting for him! Charlize Theron is just right for the part of Candy, as is Paul Rudd as her husband Wally. Singer Erykah Badu turns in an impressive performance as the daughter of the owner of the titular cider house. But, in my opinion, the nicest part of this film is Tobey Maguire, who plays the central character, Homer Wells. The role seems to have been written for him. Having seen him previously in "Spider-Man," I wasn't really left with any particular impression of his abilities as an actor, but this movie totally sold me on him. I'll watch anything else he's in now - who knows, I wouldn't even be surprised to find myself sitting through "Spider-Man 2". To sum up, this is a really worthwhile, multifaceted film - sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking (and sometimes both at once, which means you have a warm broken heart...). Now I want to read John Irving's book!
Rating:
Summary: just me, as usual
Review: I've seen this film only once, in the theater when it was released. I haven't yet read the book. This movie touched me in a way I can't explain, even to those who saw it with me. I'm now ordering the video. It's one of those film experiences where you have to remove yourself from the current world as you know it, and take in everything as it happened at the time.It's not easy to do, but there was a time when everything that happened here, happened. I love this movie. That's all.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent piece of 30s style movies
Review: Tobey Maguire always plays an excellent role that make his movies classics. This is an example of how serious an actor like tobey can be. An aspiring tale of love, hate, drama, comedy and hope. This movie will keep you wanting more. 10/10.
Rating:
Summary: Rules, Lessons, and Poignancy
Review: Even having John Irving write the screenplay based on his own novel could not prevent this film's insufficiencies which include a lack of cohesion throughout much of the plot development. It begins quite well as the relationship between Homer Wells (Maguire) and Dr. Wilbur Larch is effectively established. There are issues between them (e.g. pro life versus pro choice) as well as mutual affection and respect. Then the film sags when Homer leaves the St. Cloud Orphanage with Candy (Theron) and Wally (Rudd). He works in the Worthington orchard and falls in love with Candy while Wally is serving in the U.S. Air Force during World War Two. And then.... I have great respect for director Lasse Hallstrom's work (My Life as a Dog, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Chocolat, and most recently, The Shipping News) and do not envy him as he struggled -- with mixed results -- to bring Irving's Academy Award-winning screenplay adaptation to life. There are several magical, memorable moments such as when Dr. Larch and later Homer "salute" the children when wishing them goodnight; also when the children compete for the attention of visitors to the orphanage, hoping to be selected. With regard to the acting, Caine received an Academy Award for best actor in a supporting role and everyone else in the cast performs well. The film score is at times intrusive but the cinematography is first- rate. However, the transitions from St. Cloud to the Worthington orchard to St. Cloud seem to me awkward. Moreover, the Rose family's problems were a distraction which reduced even more the momentum of the film's sometimes lumpy narrative. Overall, this film tries to ingratiate itself with those who see it in much the same way the orphans eagerly surround St. Cloud's visitors, clamoring for their preferential attention. That said, I am pleased to have seen this film and look forward to seeing it again. With all due respect to its charm (in large measure the result of the orphans, all of whom I wish I could adopt), this film raises a number of important issues and addresses them with appropriate respect and sensitivity.
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