Rose Hill (1997)

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

For the Roses, the book upon which this movie was based, is one of my favorite books of all time. That said, Rose Hill is probably the worst book adaptation I have ever seen. The only thing that it shares in common with the book upon which it purports to be based is the names of the characters.I honestly wish that I could erase the memory of this film from my mind, so that it would not tarnish the image of the book I enjoyed so thoroughly. I can't believe that Julie Garwood, who penned this excellent book (and it's sequels, which are about the four brothers-- none of whom die in the book!), allowed this terrible movie to be made.As far as what is the most awful thing about it, I don't even know where to begin. Perhaps it is the portrayal of Mary Rose, a girl who is supposed to be sweet and well adjusted, caring and altruistic. In the movie, she comes across as a spoiled brat who doesn't appreciate anything that her brothers have done for her. And Harrison is supposed to be her handsome Highland love interest, not the wimpy loser the movie makes him out to be.I won't even get into all of the things that are wrong with the way the rest of the family is written, except to mention Mama Rose. One of the central parts of the book is the letters the Mary Rose and the boys send to Adam's mother, Mama Rose (who becomes a surrogate mother to the entire clan), throughout their lives. Each chapter began with one of these heartfelt letters illustrating the growth of each individual into a man (or woman). I realize that they could not have put the correspondence into the movie, but they could have in some way alluded to the closeness they have all developed with the woman who raised them in spirit, not being present in the flesh.Anyone who is thinking about watching this movie-- don't. Even as a stand alone movie, it is pretty bad. If you have read the book, then really DON'T WATCH THIS. It will only serve to make you angry and disappointed. I was so excited when I heard that they were making a movie out of this book, but they should have just left it alone. If you are still interested in the movie, just go buy the book, For the Roses by Julie Garwood. I promise you, it will be a must better investment of your time!

If you have read the book then stay away from this movie. It is so much a betrayal of the characters that I can not bear to ever wish for another of Julie Garwood's books to ever be made into a movie if she could approve of this interpretation.The best thing that they did was not give it the book's title (gave them one point for that) so that people can maybe not associate the two.There was no need to make the girl so self centered, to kill her brother in order for her to go back to the city, where they all met and decided to become a family instead of a gang, to be reunited with her birth family. If I had seen this movie first then I would never have wasted my time reading all five of the stories.

I hated this movie. I love Julie's books, but when they did it, they changed so much of the plot that it's not the same. The death of one of her brothers was not in the book, in the series of books, he has his own book!I think if they're going to do an adaptation of a romance novel, then do it RIGHT!!!! don't change so much of it, and if they have to then let the author of the book do it, please!!!Queen of the Damned was the same way. Excellent movie,IMHO, but they left out too much, so what if it was 3 hours long, these days lots of movies are.Don't adapt a movie from a book if it can't be done in a way that shows respect for the material and the people who love it, be they male or female.

The only saving grace is that it is so off base from the book you wouldn't recognize it. Don't know why they keep repeating it on TV. The book was one of my all time reads.