This adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel is pretty disappointing. The casting of Demi Moore as Hester Prynne is laughable - she looks what she was at the time, a pretty, A-list, Hollywood star. Gary Oldman does slightly better as Dimmesdale - in fact he might have just saved the film - but Robert Duvall is atrocious as Roger Chillingworth; totally wrong.

The adaptation is stodgy, the story tampered with, and the direction by Roland Joffe is pedestrian. Faces like Edward Hardwicke, Tim Woodward, Roy Dotrice, and Joan Plowright, give the film some credibility, but not enough.

I must inform you that that Roland Joffé has utterly bastardized Nathaniel Hawthorne's work with this film, but I find I must review the film as a film, rather than an adaptation due to the strength of the film itself in comparison to the original literary work. As an adaptation, it is a sexed-up, stylized-down piece of detritus. But as a film...

This work stands alone, as it will not bear up under scrutiny when compared against Hawthorne, but aside from that, this "based on" work is a fabulous dramatization of Hawthorne's story. I have to say the performances are marvelous, the story is captivating, and the emotion of the portrayals is wrenching.

I highly enjoyed this bastardization, and rate it at a 7.6/10 from...

the Fiend :.

VERY stupid adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic. For one thing Demi Moore is totally miscast in the title role. I have nothing against her--she can be good in the right roles...but casting her as a Puritan was just stupid. Gary Oldman looks like he doesn't know what the hell he's doing in this and Robert Duvall sadly embarasses himself.

I (unfortunately) saw it in a theatre back in 1995 (Yup--I PAID to see this movie!). There were a bunch of English school teachers in attendance. They started laughing during the opening credits which says the movie is "based on characters created by Hawthorne" and didn't let up during the entire movie. Actually their comments were more enjoyable than the movie itself. And they REALLY howled at the end which was totally different from the book! Also, at 135 minutes, it's WAY too long.

Really...who thought this was a good idea? Why take a classic book and screw it over completely? Thankfully, this seems to be forgotten--it should stay that way. Don't bother.