Rating: 
Summary: Watch the film. Read the book!
Review: I had to see Simon Birch from the moment I realized it was based on my favorite novel of all time: A Prayer For Owen Meany. I had an almost private screening - since I was only one of four to buy a ticket for the afternoon's matinee. I can't tell you in this small space how the story of Simon moved me. Simon's faith is pure and beautiful. It is encouraging, honest and inspiring. See the movie. Show it to the kids in your life. Help them (and yourself) to see the promise and purpose in their lives. If you are at all moved, and haven't already done so, read John Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany. Of Course the novel couldn't be accurately portrayed on the screen, that's okay. I'm glad that no one attempted to put Owen on the screen. He's alive in the hearts and minds of those touched by the novel. Simon is now alive in my heart, too.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful film!
Review: I notice in the reviews of Simon Birch that the hardcore fans of the book are the only ones to give it negative reviews, while those who do not know the novel by John Irving are touched by the film in a profound way. Well, I love the novel by Irving and I love the film too! Enjoy them for the individual works of art they are. A beautiful movie to watch with your whole family!
Rating: 
Summary: Please Read the Book
Review: Before you watch this movie..., please read the novel. I have never in my lifetime read a book that changed my life the way this one did (with the exception of To Kill a Mockingbird) Now that I have said that..., to the movie.The acting and casting were superb. I was glad that I watched the movie. I was on a high from reading the novel and went out to rent the movie right after. I was disappointed..., but most movies don't own up to what the book portrays anyway(with the exception of To Kill a Mockingbird). Anyway, don't hesitate to rent this, but not before you stay online here and buy a copy of "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving. Simon Birch may have been a decent guy, but he was no match for the real Simon (Owen Meany)!
Rating:
Summary: A realistic/optomistic commentary on life and faith
Review: I first watched this movie 4 months after my second premature son died and was spellbound by it. I could identify so well with Simon's challenges and thought many times that our two sons might have faced the same challenges in their lives had they lived until teenage years. The movie is very well directed and produced. It is complete, descriptive, inviting and moving. You leave feeling like the characters are part of your family and think of them often well after the movie is over. The movie focuses on love and faith and the power that those two feelings give a person. It's spiritual and realistic all at the same time. I've watched it three times since it came out on video and will purchase it for all my nieces and nephews because it focuses on the most important things in life: family, friends, love and faith. It's a great movie for youth group events, too!
Rating:
Summary: Defintelty one of the Best Movies made in 1999
Review: At this moment there are 143 reviewers for this movie. I just could not help but put it my two cents worth. It is sometimes difficult to say that this is the Greatest Movie off all times. Simply because there are so many good movies. However, I must confess that this movie is one of the best movies I've seen all year long. It simply mesmerizes you and takes you out of your ordinary life, and you live with the movie for the 2 hours that you watch it. It makes you laugh and it makes you cry, you get emotioanlly involved with the movie. By the way the DVD has great picture and sound quality. Buy it and keep it as a treasure forever, so that you can watch it ever and ever, when you feel down and need a little courage or uplifting. Thanks Amazon for making this available.
Rating: 
Summary: MUSH
Review: ...A Prayer For Owen Meany was a transcendental experience as anovel. Yes, this movie needs to be taken on its own terms as aseparate entity, and in doing so, it is a decidedly mixed bag. The character of Simon Birch rips your heart out not because of the weak and soppy screenplay, but because the small actor playing him is so frail looking and sad as a human being. This movie is shameless in its use of him, and successfully garners some lumps in the throat as the movie soppily explores one of the least interesting episodes from the novel. The character of Joe is given way too much emphasis in this version; everything seems calculated and designed to pull your heartstrings. Though there are a few genuine laughs (which come directly from John Irving's skewed life-view as set in the novel), this movie lambasts you with way too much autumnal color and weepy, bombastic music swelling on the soundtrack. Forgettable. END
Rating:
Summary: I give this movie 5 million stars.
Review: Some of you are probably wondering,is this man obsessed with the movie?This is his third review,for god's sake.Well,I'm not obsessed with it.But the thing about it that I don't get is,I don't usually cry when I watch it,but for days after I watch it,I can't stop thinking about Joe Wenteworth and Simon Birch.I LOVED this movie and,even though it will probably never happen,I would like to see a Simon Birch 2in which Simon would come back to life and the two of them would finish school and both live to be at least 80 years old. Simon was too young to die.I know it's just a movie,but when I saw Simon Birch die,it was almost as if a close friend had just died.I'm sure that sounds weird to some of you,but,that's the way I feel.This movie is about accepting people for who they are. Not because of how they look.I enjoyed watching Simon stump Reverend Russell in church,and when he would sit in the corner during Sunday School.Simon knew more about faith than his teacher and the minister combined. Also,I noticed alot of criticism because this movie was not a copy of "A Prayer For Owen Meaney."You're right.It's not.But think about this for a second.This movie would be rated R if they showed a guy getting his arms blown off by a grenade.For those of you that want to bite my head off and jump down my throat because,when you read this for the first time,interpret it as me criticizing John Irving's novel,I am not being critical of the book.I'm just stating a fact.Also,it clearly says in the beginning and at the end of Simon Birch that it was SUGGESTED BY,NOT based on the novel.These two are different in some ways,but they are both excellent stories.My email address is posted with my second review of this movie,so feel free to email me with any comments you may have about my review,or the book,or the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice, but the vulgar points kind of spoil it for me...
Review: This movie was really touching and had some great acting in it, but to be honest I wish Simon hadn't been kind of "vulgar" sometimes. Those "boob comments" can be offending and annoying and overdo it. I would give this movie 5 stars if it wasn't for that.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best films for family viewing!
Review: I watched this movie at church with nearly 250 kids ranging from ages 6-14. I have never seen a movie that managed to captivate the attention of all the children that made them laugh out loud, cry out loud and walk away with a message. Simon's character, though crude, had an obvious point: God does have a purpose for everyone, if you allow yourself to be open to him. What I loved most about Simon was that he wasn't afraid to speak his mind. The hypocritical adults who surrounded him couldn't deal with him because he called attention to their true natures. The film was well acted and well put together. I am buying this film for my nieces and nephews for Christmas!
Rating:
Summary: Simon Birch
Review: This is a message to the people who say that Simon Birch trashes the novel by John Irving.You can't fit all the stuff in the movie that you can fit in a book.If you knew anything about movies and novels,you would understand that. Now,to the reviewer that said that they would have had Joe and Simon get through high school first,I agree with you completely.If I had done the movie,Reverend Russell would have died instead of such a nice kid like Simon Birch.I think this movie is a reflection of real life.Reverend Russell and Ms.Leavey, in my opinion,represent all the mean people in the world.Yet,Reverend Russell came out of the bus crash completely unhurt.But Simon risked his own life for everyone on that bus.And the next morning,Joe got his heart broken for,I think it was the third time when his best friend died in the hospital the next morning.This movie shows all of you my view on the world.It seems like bad things happen to nice people,but mean people survive all kinds of accidents.This movie was excellent and I think the people who talk trash about it are people who are extremely jealous of the friendship that Joe and Simon shared.Thank you for your time.
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