I give the film a 6 because of the incredible performances, and I took 4 off because the studio signed off on this script.

The film leaves out how they fell in love.

In the novel, they spend more time in her home on more than one occasion, they make love the first time they meet. And after they arrived at her father's winter home, they tie up a carriage to their horse so Peter and Beverly can take the kids for rides around the frozen lake. One evening they take them across the lake to a tavern with music and drinks so the kids can dance.

Little Willa falls asleep in Peter's lap on the way home. Beverly's heart melts.

Peter Lake's upbringing in America shouldn't have been passed over. He was raised by a local native tribe in the city, until he was sent out to discover the world on his own, ended up in an orphanage for Irish orphans, and thus he developed an Irish accent.

That's as much as I'll get into. I hope I've provided some context. And shame the studio that wasted all of the great talent with this script.

So we saw the movie version of 'Winter's Tale' which required me to re-read the first three chapters of Mark Helprin's excellent novel on the subway trip home, to restore my faith in humanity and this extraordinary book. I think that Akiva Goldsman either a) skimmed the book, b) just read the back copy of the paperback edition or c) ripped all the pages out and glued half of them back in random order to write his screenplay. The movie is a mess but a well-intentioned mess.

The negatives: There are a number of serious continuity errors, some laughable dialogue, and a great book with its satiric bite and Dickensian wit sacrificed on the Hollywood altar. Also missing, MAJOR novel characters (Praeger de Pinto, Hardesty Maratta, Cecil Mature (in the movie but unrecognizable unless you really look), Jackson Meade and Mootfowl. The last act has NOTHING to do with the novel's climax and instead focuses on one of the book's lesser sub-plots substituting Peter for Hardesty Maratta. Throughout the movie, events in the book are re-told but shifted to the wrong time period and (too often) to the wrong characters, Russell Crowe has marbles in his mouth, and Will Smith's character is NOT I repeat NOT in the novel. Peter Lake did not grow up in Brooklyn but with the Baymen of the Bayonne Marsh who are also missing from the film.

The positives: What's left is a sweet, gushy romance that has a Wagnerian sweep and an epic feel that occasionally gets Helprin right. I'm glad I saw it with Emily, the music is bloody marvelous, and Colin Farrell and Jessica Brown Findlay are a satisfactory Peter Lake and Beverly Penn. Jennifer Connelly is good casting for Virginia Gamely although removing her character's remarkable entry to NY gives us no idea who she is. Eva Marie Saint is luxury casting in the last act. The best scene: William Hurt as Isaac Penn quoting one of my favorite lines directly from the novel: "Be brief. If you were one of my journalists you'd be done by now. God created the world in six days. Ape him."

Skip the movie. Go read the book.

I saw this movie with my friend who is a girl, and at first the movie started out like an unbearably predictable love story full of pop but no substance, but after the appearance of the first "miracle" (possible spoiler, unintended) this movie picked up pace and became more mystical! Some have claimed "this movie make sense." I can see that, but will add love doesn't make sense either, it makes other things make sense; on a deeper note, religion itself doesn't always make logical sense, which is why the concept of faith exists, it also makes sense of other things! Some say "It's weird for the devil to be portrayed as a jaded yet-well- kept hobo," I thought that was odd too, but then I remembered Jesus conquered hell and had the keys to death's gate, so it makes sense the former king of the earth is out of a job and has lived in darkness and isolation for millennia, surrounded by constant salvation, I can see why the devil'd be jaded. In closing, if you watch this with maturity and reverence for depth and abstract concepts then this movie will hit a heart string and be a good choice. If you go into it expecting the typical love fluff, then you'll be sorely disappointed! I don't usually say this, but GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!