Cider House Rules - 1999

This is the first time I've seen this movie. Good, but not really that great. It's based on the novel by John Irving and it feels cut down. The movie stars Tobey Maguire before he was bitten by a radioactive (er, genetically enhanced) spider. He plays an orphan who was never adopted. Instead he was trained by the resident doctor of the orphanage played by Michael Caine. The two have an ongoing discussion over the morality/necessity of abortion. The orphanage is something of a magnet for wayward girls and the doctor performs abortions regularly.
When Maguire's orphan comes of age, he leaves the orphanage to seek his fortune and see the world. He ends up at an apple orchard where he becomes a picker. His boss Mr Rose (Delroy Lindo) says that this is history referring to himself being the black boss of a white boy. Inside the bunkhouse is a list of rules. Maguire is the only one able to read them. Mr Rose says that the rules weren't written by the people who live in cabin and they're not going to follow them.
The story involves a love story with Maguire and Charlize Theron who sees him as a way to get past loneliness. It also involves incest and a conflicted Maguire performing the abortion.
The acting is quite good between Maguire and Caine. Their interplay is crisp. Especially with an exchange of letters after Maguire leaves. There's also dozens of cute orphans. Anyone who sees this and doesn't want to adopt three of them is heartless.
I puzzled over the title and it's emphasis. This is part of why the movie feels cut down. I think the message must be that rules made by people that don't have to live with them are suspect. The connection with abortion is then made somewhat clear. But the flaw in presentation is pretty obvious. The company policy at my job wasn't written by anyone in my office. But we don't just throw it out the window. Or follow it blindly. The abortion debate is more complex than office policy of course but I'm still far from convinced.
I read somewhere recently that movies from short stories feel stretched. I can't disagree more. 500 page books can't be cut down to two hours without suffering. I can only assume that this movie is an example of this. Good but not great.