Ellen Burstyn brings tenderness to the ornery main character, whose musings on constipation have been the bane of many a high school English student.

<   THE GOOD  >

Well-cast actors, including Brit Stephen Dillane as the grown-up Jakob, and Serb Rade Sherbedgia as his Greek saviour, reflect a newly polyglot post-war Toronto.

Faced with an admittedly tricky task, director Kari Skogland awkwardly dramatizes Hagar’s lengthy internal monologues.

<   THE BAD  >

As with the novel, the flick loves poetic passages that drip like honey, imbuing each elegiac, limpid scene with...wait, what were we talking about again?

A modern-day setting (cellphones!), a smoother love interest (Bram’s moves now include taking Hagar on a picnic, instead of pressing “his outheld groin against [her] thigh”) and lots of sex.

<   THE DEVIATION  >

Director Jeremy Podeswa ditches much of the book’s anticlimactic final third—narrated by Jakob’s loyal reader, Ben—to create a more film-friendly, focused dramatic arc.              

A respectfully tame take on the fierce-and-fiery original.

<   THE VERDICT  >

A skilled adaptation of a novel some said was impossible to film.