Rated
PG-13 (Violence, Terror, Some Sexuality and Brief Strong Language)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 32 Minutes
Cast:
Daniel
Craig-Will Atenton
Rachel
Weisz-Libby Atenton
Naomi
Watts-Ann Patterson
Marton
Csokas-Jack Patterson
Elias
Koteas-Boyce
Taylor
Geare-Trish Atenton
Claire
Geare-Dee Dee Atenton
Rachel
G. Fox-Chloe Patterson
Directed
by Jim Sheridan
 |
| Hold on, this looks like a job for James Bond... |
With
millions of dollars at stake, mainstream Hollywood films often find themselves
at the mercy of studio executives, and they’re usually never the brightest
crayon in the box. Irish director and six-time Academy Award nominee Jim Sheridan
has helmed a number of critically-acclaimed films such as 1989's "My Left
Foot," 1993's "In the Name of the Father," and 2003's semi-autobiographical
"In America." His most recent film, 2009's "Brothers,"
based on Susanne Bier's 2004 Danish film "Brødre," received mixed
reviews but I felt it was an above-average drama elevated by the strength of
its three leads. Sheridan has a penchant for tackling scripts involving haunted
characters but his latest film, "Dream House," is a complete
disaster given the high-profile cast involved and the director’s pedigree.
According to unconfirmed reports, Sheridan clashed with CEO of Morgan Creek
Productions James G. Robinson during production and as a result, he lost
control of the film and the studio edited it without his participation. Daniel
Craig and Rachel Weisz disliked the final cut so much that they have refused to
do any press promotion or interviews for it. No premiere was held and the film
wasn’t screened for critics so it comes as no surprise that Universal Pictures
was embarrassed and quietly dumped it in the last week of September. While
there’s nothing wrong with the performances themselves, "Dream House" suffers
from an identity crisis with its derivative plot, sloppy pacing, and lapses in logic. It's just sad to see all this talent and money being wasted due to some
meddling studio executive.
Successful New York publisher Will Atenton (Daniel
Craig) quits his job to work on his novel and spend more time with his wife
Libby (Rachel Weisz) and two young daughters, Trish and Dee-Dee (Taylor and
Claire Geare), relocating them to the quiet suburbs of New Ashford,
Connecticut. As his family happily settles in, strange events begin to occur
with Dee-Dee glimpsing a man lurking outside the house. After catching a group
of wild teens holding a séance in the basement, Will learns that his house was
once the site of a horrific murder that occurred five years ago. A man named
Peter Ward shot his wife and children in cold blood but with insufficient
evidence against him, he was released from nearby Greenhaven
Psychiatric Hospital. As Will investigates the house's past, he comes to
suspect that his neighbor, Ann Paterson (Naomi Watts), knows more than she is
letting on but that’s the least of his concerns when he makes a horrific
revelation about himself and the murders.
The official trailer has already
spoiled one of two plot twists in "Dream House" but the film is still
a dull and derivative affair, liberally 'borrowing' elements from "The
Amityville Horror" to even "Fight Club." Even if you go in
knowing as little as possible, nothing makes sense and the final reveal is so poorly
explained that you'll leave the theater scratching your head in confusion. It's
hard to analyze the film without going into spoiler territory but what was
marketed as a conventional horror flick is actually a psychological
thriller/drama and it's easy to see why Sheridan was drawn to the script as it
deals with a man trapped and unable to let go of his past due to suffering an
extremely traumatic event. Unfortunately, these elements are handled in a slipshod
manner, no thanks to its clumsy pacing where the aforementioned 'twist' is
revealed around the forty-minute mark, leaving all the build-up to be a waste.
The best analogy I can use to describe it (and I may be already revealing too much) is to take Leonardo DiCaprio's
Edward 'Teddy' Daniels in "Shutter Island" and have him discover the
truth about himself half-way through the film but he spends the next hour
trying to prove it despite the fact that he and the audience already know.
Adding insult to injury, "Dream House" sees fit to offer up another twist in the climax that is both
confusing and ludicrous as two characters that have what amounts to glorified
cameos suddenly become central to the plot. Its supernatural leanings come into
question as well, leaving us to wonder if anything
in the film is actually happened at all. In fact, the film suffers from an
identity crisis as it's unsure of whether it wants to be a haunted house tale
or a murder mystery or both. The attempts to generate suspense fall flat and
the only praise I can really muster is Caleb Deschanel's cinematography and the
warm, if somewhat maudlin, drama that Craig and Weisz generate.
Despite David
Loucka's hackneyed script working against him, Daniel Craig does manage to give a nuanced
performance, or as nuanced as a film of this genre allows, exhibiting genuine
warmth as a loving father and representing a nice change of pace from the usual
roles he takes that involve him staring grimly with those piercing blue eyes.
Rachel Weisz is fine if not particularly noteworthy but her on-set romance (and
eventual marriage) with Craig lends the drama a sense of realism. The two
really belong in a better film and one wonders how it all would've turned out
if Sheridan had just made a straight character drama. Naomi Watts is simply
wasted, as is Marton Csokas and Elias Koteas. I sure hope they were at least paid
well for their time.
Released on September 30, 2011, "Dream House"
was not screened for critics in advance and what little reviews that have
cropped up are all overwhelmingly negative with a tepid 8% on Rotten Tomatoes, as
critics concluded that the film was 'punishingly slow, stuffy, and way too
obvious to be scary.' I viewed the film at a morning screening and audience
attendance was mediocre at best, which means that it'll struggle to make back
its unusually high $55 million production budget. With only rumors to go on, it's
hard to tell who is really at fault—Sheridan or Morgan Creek—that resulted in
such a terrible film but I'm sure the story behind the troubled production is a lot more interesting than the one we're
provided here. If I were to venture a guess based on precedent alone (remember
David Fincher's "Alien 3"?), I would lay the blame on Morgan Creek. While
the core premise of "Dream House" is intriguing, its pleasing
aesthetics and above-average performances cannot save a script that lacks energy,
any logical coherence and telegraphs all of its twists beforehand. Perhaps
Sheridan should've just disowned the film outright and resurrect the pseudonym
Alan Smithee.
Final
Rating: 2 out of 5
"Once
upon a time, there were two little girls who lived in a house."
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