Cruise lives up to high standards set by other good-looking men born July 3

Tom Cruise and I were both born on July 3. That means Cruise has more in common with me than he does with Jack Reacher. In the books, Reacher is 6-foot-5, 250 pounds and blonde. Cruise is 3-foot-8, 98 pounds and has red hair. So I didn't know how he was going to pull it off in the movie. But he did.

I was practically annoyed that Cruise was chosen for the part. It seemed almost obnoxious. My only sense that it might possibly, maybe, somehow work is that Jack Reacher author Lee Child seemed happy with it.  Of Cruise's relatively small stature, Child said, "With another actor you might get 100% of the height but only 90% of Reacher. With Tom, you'll get 100% of Reacher with 90% of the height."

And he did. I think it helped that they cast other vertically-challenged actors with Cruise, so his shortness wasn't obvious.

The movie did a good job of portraying Reacher. He was tough, had the photographic memory, and the good short quips. They didn't overdo the dialogue, which was good. They didn't quite get into the numbers thing as much with Reacher, where he practically does algebraic equations in his head, and he didn't get to sleep with the girl, like he usually does in the books. That was refreshing though, as I had my son and two nephews with me.

In the movie, Reacher is more the quiet tough-guy with the funny quip, where as in the books he is more bad-ass, sullen and alone.

As a book fan, I was relieved that they did a good job with the movie.

As a movie fan, I'm glad I went.