The Box: BD Review
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Page 1 of 3 Warner / 115 Minutes / 2009 / Rated PG-13 / Street Date: February 23, 2010
One of my dearest friends in this world and I have been arguing the merits of Donnie Darko for years now. She claims it's a wonderfully cerebral investigation into the mind of a teenager; I find it to be a stuffy, snotty, dull movie about angsty, pouty highschoolers. We've gone back and forth a thousand times, and the conversation still bristles, which at the very least means that Richard Kelly's first film still resonates with people. The kicker is, though, that my friend and adorer of Donnie Darko hasn't seen any of Kelly's films since that indie hit came out, and for me, that's part of my argument against the film. Maybe Donnie Darko was an anomalous achievement, the greatest thing that Kelly would ever make, but both Southland Tales and now The Box are half-assed works at best, movies that not only don't live up to the pedigree of Darko, but barely live up to even minor Hollywood-multiplex expectations.
The Box is especially unenticing. The set-up is simple: A husband and wife (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) get visited by a creepy-ass guy (Frank Langhella) who offers them a box. Every time they press the button on the box, they will receive a million dollars, and someone they don't know will die. This eats away at their relationship, their psyches and their moral universes as they moan, groan and regret their coveting of the almighty dollar. Theoretically, a high concept like this might make for a suspenseful, guilt-ridden moral tale, but The Box is simply dead on arrival. I knew I was in for trouble when we learn that Cameron Diaz is a philosophy professor, teaching Sartre to some college kids with her deep southern drawl. I have never met Ms. Diaz, so maybe she has spent a lot of time with No Exit, studying its cultural nuance, but to see the blond girl from Charlie's Angels discussing existentialism is not an easy archetype to maintain. I've always admired Diaz's presence on screen - I'm not trying to say she's too bimbo-y to play the part - but I feel like Kelly has misdirected her in The Box. In fact, I'll point the finger at Richard Kelly for pretty much every misguided facet of The Box. It's simplistic, one-note and nowhere near as enjoyable as it might be under somebody else's watch. I wonder what my friend would think of it.... |
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