Nick Hornby is a British writer whose novels have been adapted to movies many times. Funnily enough, although he hasn’t adapted almost any of them himself, in recent years, he’s also become a successful screenwriter for movies like Brooklyn, Wild, or An Education. Hornby’s writing has always been about obsessed man-children, who are a little bit egotistical, and believe their passion is everything they have to offer. But with old age, his characters have earned more introspection and weariness, while always keeping his humor intact. Here are Nick Hornby’s best film adaptations, ranked:
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
6 Fever Pitch (2005)
20th Century Fox
Hornby’s first book is a memoir about his fanaticism for the Arsenal football (soccer) team and how it relates to his life through the years. The American version of Fever Pitch is not that. This rom-com with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore changes out soccer for baseball and Arsenal for the Boston Red Sox, and that would be okay if the movie kept all the humanity of the novel, but it changes almost everything except the title. As with every rom-com in the 2000s, the comedy is too broad and exaggerated to make us fall in love with the characters and want their story to be one for the ages.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
5 A Long Way Down (2014)
Lionsgate
Four strangers who planned to jump off the same roof on New Year’s Eve, join forces and decide to give themselves six weeks to find a reason to live, while being each other’s support systems. Such a surreal starting point gave the novel a base to be hilarious, yet melancholic. The movie adaptation of A Long Way Down isn’t able to recreate that contrast and tries to be funnier. Although well cast (Imogen Poots, Aaron Paul, Toni Collette, and Pierce Brosnan, who has done this kind of character better), in the film version, you don’t believe for a second these people were desperate enough to end their lives. It’s a fun movie for a Sunday evening, but it misses the pathos, the on-point dialogue, and the “life is tough but worth it” message of the book.
4 Fever Pitch (1997)
FilmFour Distributors
Before Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore tackled Fever Pitch, there had already been an English version of the movie, with Colin Firth. Is he believable as a football fanatic who would do anything to see every Arsenal game? Not really; but even with the miscast, the film keeps the boyish enthusiasm and passion for (English) football, with the heart and charm from the book, as the script is written by Nick Hornby himself, and it shows.
3 Juliet, Naked (2018)
Annie (Rose Byrne) is the long-suffering girlfriend of Duncan (Chris O’Dowd), who’s obsessed with Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke), an incredible musician who fell off the face of the Earth, 25 years ago. When she goes into the Crowe website and gives her opinion of the new album (it sucks), someone emails her; it’s Crowe himself, and they start e-mailing each other. Hornby is a music fanatic, so he knows how to put us in that headspace, and also ridicule the obsession when it gets too far. Juliet, Naked is a book and movie about music fanaticism, getting older, and how love can disappear with time, as Annie and Duncan are in a rut. The movie’s protagonist is Byrne, whose best acting trick is to make us believe she would still be with the pretentious, doofus man-child that is Duncan. It might not be one of her best roles, but she’s charming, especially in her relationship with Ethan Hawke, as the faded, old, sad, has-been.
Rose Byrne told HeyGuys about the project: “I read the book when it came out and loved it, so when I found out it was being done I was immediately intrigued, so it was kind of a no-brainer. I was a fan, literally a fan. I met Nick Hornby the other day on the set, and I was extremely nervous because I think he’s such a brilliant writer.”
2 About a Boy (2002)
Universal Pictures
Will (Hugh Grant) is a womanizing, rich, scoundrel, who meets Fiona (Toni Collette) and her son Marcus (Nicholas Hoult). When she tries to commit suicide, Will and Marcus bond and become the strangest of friends. About a Boy might be one of those times when the actors make a good text even better, as it was the role that Hugh Grant was born to play. It’s also a great first performance for Nicholas Hoult as the weird, timid, wise-beyond-his-years kid in Marcus. The movie was written nearly ten years later than the book, so they had to change some things (Kurt Cobain and grunge weren’t as important in the 2000s), but the message that nobody is an island, and that being with people is the way to really live, is perfectly explained in both book and movie.
1 High Fidelity (2000)
Buena Vista Pictures
Rob Gordon (John Cusack) is the owner of a failing record store business. When his last girlfriend, Laura (Iben Hjejle), leaves him, he makes a top-five list of ex-girlfriends and decides to talk to them all, so he can find out what he is doing wrong. High Fidelity is the perfect example of how movie adaptations can be great. Both the movie and book are awesome, as they each take advantage of their respective mediums. John Cusack imbues the character expertly, showing some loving qualities, while also being a self-centered, egotistical, music snob, who needs to grow up. The movie used the breaking of the fourth wall to talk to us and used some of the best monologues of the book, creating a style that affected the rom-com genre and has one of the best soundtracks ever. In 2020, there was a TV show, with Zoë Kravitz as the lead that showed that men or women, being in the ’90s, the 2000s, or the 2020s, always want to be loved, understood, and talk about music.
