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Take away its modern-day provocations (specifically its handling of the abortion issue and its nudity) and it is very much an old-fashioned movie. It's got a solid, three-act structure, a potentially tragic romantic triangle, relevant subplots and vivid characters.
It is, in short, one of the rare movies that gives you the same satisfaction of being absorbed in a really good book. Perhaps that's because it's adapted by novelist John Irving from his own really good book of the same name.
Set in the war years of the '40s, the ambience is American-Dickensian. But the story echoes earlier literature: its hero is named Homer and his story is an Odyssey.
Abandoned young Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire) grows up in St. Cloud's Orphanage under the loving tutelage of Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine), who teaches Homer everything he knows about medicine.
Larch is a kindly country doctor, yes, but also an abortionist. As Homer grows up, he cannot morally justify this practice, even when Larch shows him the devastation caused by back alley-style abortions. Larch tries to convince Homer that rules sometimes must be broken.
But Homer leaves St. Cloud's with young lovers Candy Kendall (Charlize Theron) and Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd), after they have employed Larch's services as an abortionist. They take him to Wally's family-run orchard, where Homer takes a job as an apple picker, living among a group of itinerant pickers led by the patriarchal Mr. Rose (Delroy Lindo). He respectfully ignores the written entreaties of Dr. Larch to return to St. Cloud's to help run the orphanage.
The cast is well-chosen, particularly Caine, who gamely handles his first Yank accent as the good-hearted, ether-abusing Dr. Larch. Maguire, who has made a career specialty of playing gentle, awkward, intelligent young men in films such as The Ice Storm and Pleasantville, is effective since Homer falls well within his realm of specialty. Theron, whose beauty sometimes distracts from the fact she is an actress of some facility, makes for a sweet Candy.
Director Lasse Hallstrom inherited this film after its first director, Philip Borsos, died of cancer at age 41. Hallstrom turned out to be a fortuitous choice. The director of the 1985 film My Life As A Dog, he excels at the challenge of portraying eccentricity without cuteness and tragedy without histrionics. And, like Irving, his style of irony can inspire tears as easily as laughter.
(This film is rated "AA")