Misery

Screening as part of These Go to 11: The Films of Rob Reiner

“I’m your number one fan.” – Annie Wilkes

Just one year after Rob Reiner redefined the rom-com, he came barreling back with the ultra-tense psychological thriller Misery,

Adapted from the best-selling Stephen King’s novel by The Princess Bride screenwriter William Goldman, the film stars James Caan as Paul Sheldon, a bestselling novelist rescued after a car crash by his “number one fan,” Annie Wilkes (an unrelenting, Oscar-winning performance by Kathy Bates). What begins as an act of kindness quickly devolves into terror as Paul realizes he is being held captive and controlled by Annie’s obsessive devotion to his fictional universe. 

Stripped of supernatural elements, Misery builds relentless suspense through tight direction, claustrophobic tension, and powerhouse performances. Its legacy endures as one of the most successful Stephen King adaptations and a masterclass in minimalist horror, proving Reiner’s versatility beyond comedy and solidifying Bates’s Annie Wilkes as one of cinema’s most iconic villains.

These Go to 11: The Films of Rob Reiner

Rob Reiner emerged as one of Hollywood’s most versatile and influential directors during a remarkable decade-long run beginning in the mid-1980s. Reiner, the son of iconoclastic author/comedian/director and screenwriter Carl Reiner, transitioned from acting (famously as Mike “Meathead” Stivic on CBS’ All in the Family) to directing in 1984. 

That year, Reiner broke through with the pioneering mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, redefining screen comedy with an absurdist take on rock star puerility. He followed with a string of genre-defining hits: the road trip teen movie The Sure Thing (1985), the nostalgia-fueled classic Stand by Me (1986), the ultimate storybook-story The Princess Bride (1987), and the “I’ll have what she’s having” touchstone When Harry Met Sally… (1989). Reiner continued to defy categorization with the chilling adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery (1990) and the courtroom drama A Few Good Men (1992) for which he received a long-overdue Oscar® nomination (as Producer). Together, these films cemented Reiner’s reputation as a director capable of mastering tone, character, and genre with an unheard-of consistency. 

In many ways Reiner occupies a strikingly similar place in the legacy of American film as that of Frank Capra (It Happened One Night, It’s a Wonderful Life…).  Both function as chroniclers of national character, using popular genres to articulate what America believes about itself at any given moment. Capra focused on an aspirational landscape often by reflecting the child-like innocence of his protagonists. Reiner’s heroes are rarely naïve; they are wounded, ironic, and self-aware with Reiner serving as a post-Vietnam Capra: not as a builder of national myths, but as a custodian of them, revisiting America’s stories after innocence has faded and asking what still remains at the twilight’s last gleaming.

_{1990, 107 minutes, USA, Directed by Rob Reiner, Rated R}