Anyone who's ever had high school English knows the tale; it's of two drifters in Depression-era California, Lennie (John Malkovich), who works hard but is dim-witted, so much that he never understands the trouble he's getting into, and George (Sinise), who takes care of Lennie, even when he doesn't want to. They dream of making enough money so they can have their own place, and Lennie can tend rabbits. But because Lennie is always getting into trouble since he doesn't understand things, they are forced to move from place to place. At this particular farm, they get jobs, George fits in well with the other men, and Lennie gets by because whatever his faults, he's a hard worker who does what he's told. But then there's the vicious foreman Curly (Casey Siemaszko), who doesn't like Lennie cause he's bigger than he is, and Curly's wife (Sherilyn Fenn), who shamelessly flirts with the other men, probably because Curly hates it so. And those elements will spell trouble for George and Lennie.
As a director, Sinise is careful and spare. He doesn't belabor the beautiful country, nor does he overdo how hard things were in general then. And he and Foote also take a simple, uninsisting approach to the characters as well, making small arguments instead of hitting us over the head with big statements. We see, for example, that Curly's wife is lonely and bored, and dreams of a better world, so that we don't hate her for stirring up trouble. And similarly, while Sinise and Foote are interested in the plight of the aging (Ray Walston is an old hand named Candy, who keeps a dog around because, like him, he's old and lonely) and of other races (Joe Morton is Crooks, the stable hand, who keeps his distance because he knows what's in store for him if he doesn't), they similarly make their points through character and plot, rather than through statements. And all of this is done while staying close to Steinbeck's novel.
