Q: Being the devoted Lemony Snicket fan that you profess to be, were you first in line to see "A Series of Unfortunate Events" when it opened this week?
A: Absolutely not! The books are tremendous - although a couple of the latest are a bit uneven. Mr. Snicket is a a little too aware of the readers in some of these books - trying to "bore you," for example, with endless repetition of the facts of the water cycle so that he can send secret messages to his sister. This makes you, as the reader, a little too conscious of yourself and detracts from the pleasure of reading.
At any rate, although I did learn that in the movie there is a voice over (Jude Law as Lemony Snicket) which may help convey the style of the books, I don't believe for a second that the movie won't become "The Count Olaf (a.k.a. Jim Carrey) Show." Yes, I know that Count Olaf, like Mr. Carrey, is a total ham who succeeds often in taking center stage. However, he does it within the context of the plot, not the book itself. Olaf, although the antagonist, is a secondary character. The threat of his existence receives much more attention in Mr. Snicket's work than his actual presence does. I do not suspect the same can be said for the film. Has Jim Carrey EVER played a supporting role? Can he?
So, I suspect that I will not see the movie - or movies, if they hope to further capitalize on the popularity of the books.
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