Stephen King may be best known for his horror stories involving monsters and murder, but he just as often deals with headier, more mature themes of alcoholism and domestic abuse. About the former, King can speak from experience, having wrestled with substance addiction throughout the 1980s. About the former, he luckily didn’t experience it first-hand but is drawn to stories of children who are victimized by their alleged caregivers. This was certainly true of his summertime epic “It,” which featured children’s domestic turmoil as a parallel to the supernatural monster stalking them. 

As such, King is sensitive to stories that mishandle themes of abuse. There is a certain kind of Hollywood melodrama that explores the psychological trauma experienced by abuse victims, but that wraps up their stories in a neat little bow, declaring that abuse can simply be “gotten over” with a few trips to a shrink and some kind of hackneyed reconciliation. 

That’s certainly the reason why King hated Denzel Washington’s 2002 directorial debut, “Antwone Fisher.” That film, based on the real-life Antwone Fisher’s autobiography, was a survival tale of a young man raised by an abusive foster family, and who was sexually molested by his foster family’s adult niece. He spent a few years living on the street, making his way as a criminal. Antwone is wracked by guilt, having witnessed a friend be killed in a robbery gone awry. He grew up angry, only able to find solace in the U.S. Navy. It was there that he was offered treatment by Navy shrink Dr. Davenport (Washington) who gently helped him through his rage and trauma. 

“Antwone Fisher” was pretty well reviewed, racking up a 78% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 148 reviews). It was also a modest hit, making $23 million on a $12 million budget. 

It was also a film that Stephen King called “sentimental tripe” in a 2007 article he wrote for EW. 

The 2007 article in question was King’s very first piece for EW, and he more or less laid out a broad editorial on the current state of entertainment. He declared that he was fond of Jonathan Mostow’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” and slightly less fond of Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later.” Notably, though, he hated “Antwone Fisher” as well as the high-profile death penalty drama “The Life of David Gale.” About those films, King wrote the following: 

“Hated ‘Antwone Fisher’; ditto ‘The Life of David Gale.’ Don’t tell me the former is better than the latter, and don’t throw a bunch of sentimental tripe at me and call it social commentary. ‘Antwone Fisher’ is especially annoying in this regard, a $9 Hallmark card that amounts to ‘Roses are red, Violets are blue, Life is tough, But you’ll get through.’ I knew that already, thanks, now go away.”

Despite generally positive reviews for “Antwone Fisher,” at least some critics were on King’s side. Nev Pierce’s review for the BBC was, in fact, even harsher than King’s, saying that “There is not a single shocking, surprising, or even mildly diverting, moment, in this predictable, cliché-ridden, bland, self-consciously worthy waste of time.” He said that the story was more apt for a TV movie-of-the-week, and that the Fisher character, as played by Derek Luke, was horribly one-dimensional. Indeed, most of the negative reviews for “Antwone Fisher” had similar complaints, calling the drama mawkish or treacly, and recognizing Fisher as a bland protagonist. 

King, however, found plenty of company in his hatred of Alan Parker’s “The Life of David Gale.” That film only earned a mere 19% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and inspired Roger Ebert to write a zero-star review. Few will leap to that film’s defense.