This movie is a real tear-jerker. Not for its trite and forced emotional content, but because of its attempt to ruin one of the great books of our time. Save your money and read "A Prayer for Owen Meany." John Irving's anti-war novel follows the life of little Owen Meany. The film makers, fearing that the book would be too complex for our instant gratification society, removed allusions to the Vietnam War and condensed the events of Owen's life to one year. John Irving upon seeing the script, attempted to remove himself and asked that the characters' names be changed. The movie itself is such a great disaster, the plot contrived and acting non-existent, that as the credits began to roll, I felt the need to inform the auditorium that the book had not been that simplistic mental bubble-gum that we had just been subjected to on the screen. I beg of you, for your own mental well-being, avoid this movie. Read the book.