"Bee Season" wants so much to be complex, to dig so far beneath its core attributes to root out something more complicated, that it falls apart dramatically--and alienates the audience. Pre-teen Jewish girl from Northern California, a local spelling bee champion, blames herself for the disintegration of her affluent family: her mentally and spiritually-fragile mother and older brother, and her father, a Religious Studies professor, who drives his loved ones hard to succeed. Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel, working from Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal's adaptation of Myla Goldberg's novel, understand that the spelling bee sequences themselves are not the heart and soul of the piece--the father's quest for perfection in reaching high and holy truths is the actual focal point; however, before we can become attuned to this family's rhythm and dysfunctional dynamic, we have nothing but the spelling bee scenes to hook us. Since the contests are not composed for suspense or personal exhalation, the melodrama on the home front seems equally underwhelming (perhaps more so). The actors do what they can, but the balky, stop-and-start feel of the writing defeats them (the talented youngster, apparently a master speller, asks fundamental questions--such as "what is a mystic?"--and doesn't know what a kaleidoscope is). A handsomely-produced, but not sharply edited (nor sharply resolved) story of family responsibilities and expectations. *1/2 from ****

I can't remember when I last feel asleep watching a movie. Until Bee Season.I have the distinct feeling that I should find the book and read that, but I found this movie disappointing and unable to generate emotion in the audience partially because of the prevalence of overly simplified characters. The basic premise of the movie sounded interesting, but the execution did not bring any emotional engagement in a movie which could have offered so much more.I came away with the distinct feeling that it was an attempt by shallow people to make a deep movie.

It's true.. the book is always better than the movie. I thought that this movie was very disappointing to watch after having reading the book.The movie moves too fast, though I can understand because of time limit, to actually give the viewers the concepts that the book gives. A lot of details and events are cut from the book that is important to the story as a whole. The script seems undeveloped, and the actors/actresses carried out their character with mediocre performances.Saul (Richard Gere) is somewhat true to his character. The only thing he is obsessed with is to enable Eliza to communicate with God. He does this in a way that is the most true to novel.Aaron's (Max Minghella) appearance is very different from that described in the book. He is described as a pale and scrawny young man, who is incapable of getting dates and is a social outcast. His search for a new religion seems unreasonable and spontaneous in the movie, and I thought it didn't really capture his true character.Miriam's (Julliete) kleptomania is weird in both the book and the movie. Her actions in the book seems more reasonable when I knew her purposes for doing it. In the movie I thought it was a very random thing for her to do.Eliza (Flora Cross) is a young actress, and is limited to what she can do. Her acting is very mediocre at best, and does not convince me of Eliza that is in the novel.Chali, which I am surprised to see, have been transformed from a middle-aged man into a young blond girl. I can understand why they did that, but that just adds to the falseness of Aaron's character.Overall I think the movie is an average depiction of Bee Season. I can't say that they did a nice job of sticking to the plot. It's almost impossible to transform a novel into a movie with everything in the book.

Bee Season is not exactly what I expected. I pictured a heart warming film about trials and tribulations and ultimate success. Instead, this film was a walk on the eerie side of mysticism and emotional problems that haunt everyday people. The daughter hears the words in her spelling bees talk to her and can spell words she never even heard before. What's with that? The father takes her under his wing and teachers her kabalistic stuff of how the words she hears can connect her with God. The mother is a kleptomaniac looking to catch the light in stolen knick-knacks so she can talk with her dead parents, or at least come to grips with their deaths 30 years before. The son gets involved in hari christnas because of a pretty girl. The father is almost oblivious to his families impending disaster. An interesting little film that is well made and well acted, but not an uplifting adventure of any kind.