Hunger Point (2003) (TV)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Joan Micklin Silver

Writers (WGA):

Jillian Medoff (novel)
Deborah Amelon (teleplay)

Release Date:

13 January 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

It's hard to feel normal when you are trying to be perfect.

Plot Keywords:

Mother Daughter Relationship | Eating Disorder | Based On Novel

Cast

Barbara Hershey	...	Marsha Hunter
Christina Hendricks	...	Frannie Hunter
Susan May Pratt	...	Shelly Hunter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jeremy Akerman	...	Distinguished Man
Emmy Alcorn	...	Ms. Thomas
Nikki Barnett	...	Bernadette
Joanne Boland	...	Cynthia
Linda Busby	...	Eleanor
Stan Carew	...	Paulie
Mary Colin Chisolm	...	Sarah
Trina Corkum	...	Assistant to Abby
Andrew Fowler	...	College Boy
Jim Fowler	...	Dr. Brian Thompson
John Fulton	...	Johnny Brendan
John Getz	...	David Hunter
Briony Glassco	...	Vicky Tayborn
Hannah Graham	...	Young Frannie
Laura Horner	...	Keisha
Art G.S. James	...	Artie
Gordon Jocelyn	...	Rudy
John Maclaren	...	Intensive Care Doctor
Jack Mather	...	Grandpa Max
Alec McClure	...	Charlie
Dawn McKelvie Cyr	...	Pamela
Stephanie Mills	...	Abby
Laura Muise	...	Young Shelly
Joan Orenstein	...	Roberta
Jodi Pape	...	Chubby
Loren Paul	...	Grocery store customer
Jennifer Ross	...	Pia
Jim Swansburg	...	Daniel (as James Swansburg)
Erik Van Wyck	...	Evan

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Jaffe/Braunstein Films

As good as can be expected

This movie was based on Jillian Medoff's 1997 520-page novel by the same name. The book told a beautiful, realistic story. Making it into a movie, especially a TV movie (not that they would ever release a film about eating disorders in theaters), was not a good idea. So much of the story was cut out. If I had only seen the movie and not read the book, I would have hated it. But it some ways it was nice seeing a favorite book of mine brought to life. I would have to say that was the only reason I liked this movie at all. Well, the acting was pretty good, I'll give you that. One thing I didn't like was the writers' attempt to address an issue relating to eating disorders that was not an issue at the time the book was written, and therefore was obviously not part of the book. That was the issue of pro-anorexia websites, the whole "anorexic and proud" mentality. Whether or not this is an important issue is another matter, but it was not part of the book and therefore should not have been included in the movie. The cut so much of the story out, just to add in something that wasn't originally there. I'd say this is worth checking out if you've read and liked the book, otherwise, skip it.