Published February 4, 2008
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
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Comedy tries to redefine 'til death do us part'
Over Her Dead Body
At Quality 16 and Showcase
New Line Cinema
Kate (Eva Longoria Parker, "The Heartbreak Kid") is the girlfriend from hell - crazy, controlling and extremely shrill. So it's almost a relief when she's killed within the first few minutes by a falling ice angel. Unluckily for us, and the rest of the characters, Kate comes back. This time it's to stop Ashley (newcomer Lake Bell) - a fake psychic who can actually see Kate - from dating her husband-to-be, Henry (Paul Rudd, "Knocked Up").
"Over Her Dead Body" is a slightly warmed-over comedy with scenes and characters we've seen many times before. There's the psychic who can actually see the ghost from "Ghost," there's the exorcism scene from "Just Like Heaven" and the inevitable gay sidekick from. from, well, just about anything. The film just forgets to add anything new, funny or even remotely interesting.
You can't blame the actors here. The entire cast strains so hard to make this movie something more than just a throwaway romantic comedy you almost feel sorry for them. Bell and Rudd make an attractive pair but there's no chemistry between them. Likewise for the rest of the film, as all the elements are there but none of it comes together.
This film's too harmless to be truly bad. At worst, it'll provide moderate entertainment for an hour and a half. After that, it'll never cross your mind again.
Sheri Jankelovitz
Another bland film in a string of horror remakes
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
The Eye
At Quality 16 and Showcase
Lions Gate
Another year, another remake of an Asian language horror film. "The Ring" (2002), "The Grudge" (2004), "Dark Water" (2005) and "One Missed Call" (2008) were all remakes, and "The Eye," directed by French filmmakers David Moreau and Xavier Palud, follows suit. It's a passable rehash of a film that didn't need to be remade. Still, like all Hollywood films spawned from artistic laziness and the sheer refusal on the part of studio execs to attempt anything remotely risky, it's ultimately forgettable.
Sydney (Jessica Alba, "Sin City") is a blind violinist who, after receiving an eye transplant that restores her vision - the donor, a woman who had recently died - begins experiencing strange hallucinations of shadowy figures and a bizarre tragedy involving fire that may or may not have occurred in the past.
The problem is, we've seen all of this before. Besides the fact that it's a remake, virtually every aspect of "The Eye" is borrowed liberally from somewhere else. "The Ring" (2002), "The Sixth Sense" (1999) and "Ghost" (1990) all fall under the chopping block here, but the pieces are never formed into anything cohesive or even remotely unique. "The Eye" strains to achieve, but can't overcome one simple hurdle: It's a remake of an already contrived film.
Brandon Conradis
