Simon Birch (1998)

If you were expecting a small art film, you know you're in trouble when the first thing you see is Jim Carrey.

Because the movie is otherwise so well made and so full of sweet emotion and "good" values, I was happy to ignore the shortcomings.

The film is a feeble shadow of a book that won over even those of us who are no special fans of Irving -- it's probably his funniest, least self-conscious work.

That Simon Birch is not as maudlin as it might have been is largely due to the intensely thoughtful, prickly performance of 11-year-old Ian Michael Smith, who plays Simon.

The film does not jerk tears as much as it knocks you down and runs away with them.

Only masterful performances keep this frankly sentimental film from foundering in a sea of syrup.

Either you stand back and resist it, or you plunge in. There was something about its innocence and spunk that got to me, and I caved in.

This friendly, briefly exciting story (1998), inspired by John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, achieves a nice balance between caricature and nuanced characterization and even manages not to be cloying.

Irving's dead-serious sense of spiritual purpose is here replaced with weepy sentiment and saccharine comedy. But knee-deep in syrup, the film manages to stand on its own -- mainly due to a terrific performance from young Smith and a host of winning supporting players.

关于男孩成长的故事，关于友情关于父母亲情…

儿童治愈烂片，小男主在众多衬托下普通演技也成最佳。

《无姓之人》插曲《Mr Sandman》是否源自这里？

很感人的儿童片

“When someone you love dies, you don’t lose them all at once. You lose them in pieces over time. Like how the mail stops coming.”

默念一句话“高贵使人美丽”。纵然短暂如流星，不怨怼不盲从如Simon，也未必比那个受人尊敬的虚伪牧师来得无意义。但真正了不起的应该是Joe，一个极好看的男孩他是Simon的唯一救命稻草，面对“杂种”的身份、母亲的突然离世、与残疾朋友的关系（即使这个朋友意外杀死了自己的母亲），以及生活中大大小小的问题，他的人生抉择甚至比Simon还要复杂，但他始终保持善良、勇敢、坦荡、理智、明朗，就像他母亲一样有着从灵魂深处散发出的优雅和美丽。Joe是一个真正品貌合一的如兰君子，恰如Simon所引圣经言：短见致易怒、宽恕乃荣光，他们以彼此高贵的品格维系着珍贵的友谊。PS. 品格与年龄无关，与社会地位无关，甚至与家教无关。

美麗善良的母親可以培育出溫暖體貼的兒女，純真執著的朋友能夠讓你保有愛心和堅強的性格。 上帝對每一個人都自有安排，天使與你同在。

影片很感人，但不觉得影片是来煽情的，两位儿童演员的演出也质朴感人。

Thank God I Found You

【刷梅泽罗日】一把哽咽在喉头却唤不出两行心酸泪。几个剧情起伏都略显突兀，但谁人不怜那恶意卖萌的Simon与通身粉嫩的小梅同鞋这段友情！小梅在《鳄鱼波鞋》受尽宠爱洗劫泪腺，投胎到这片反过来照顾他人，哪有照顾，只算生死陪伴，注定死受！算部温情养眼佳片，还是部看完慌着去找原声的电影。

除了妈妈再爱我一次 ，哭得最厉害的一部影片

i am 奇迹

★★★☆ 拍得太甜了。选角成功,演员个个称职。比<苹果酒屋>好看,各种宗教隐喻非教徒表示看不懂。

音乐不错

最伤心的是只剩乔一人

美国人的煽情做的就是好 john irving改编 不会让我失望！how lucky to have u in my life. it's just beautiful ！ (又包了一堆小馄饨)

我哭了两次,我喜欢这部影片!他能让人的心灵得到净化,忠诚,信任,善良,诚实,还有比这更美的吗..

一路上有你

延續同樣由Joe Mazzello主演的《The Cure》劇情走向，恐怕也是《Simon Birch》劇情和John Irving原著內容差異頗大的緣故……全文：http://hou26.org/zeta/children04.htm

2003