Missing The Substance: Can Morrie Make the Jump?

Sportswriter Mitch Albom’s tender memoir of a friendship with an old college professor was a surprise hit when it shot to the top of the bestseller lists a few years back. But the elements that make Tuesdays with Morrie a great book may be the very elements which are making a new theatrical version somewhat disappointing, says Chris Jones. “It has so little shading and such limited thematic complexity. One could make a decent argument that the shamelessly sentimental Tuesdays With Morrie is to Hamlet what Dr. Phil is to Sigmund Freud. It uses the same language, but it emphasizes simple, accessible communication rather than difficult truths.”