Preview: Eye(Sore), Dead Bodies and Wild Antics
By Connect Mason Reporter Matthew Todd
Three films ranging from psychological horror-thriller to romantic comedy and crass nature comedy are vying to draw young movie-goers this week.
The Eye(Sore)
The Eye (Lionsgate/Paramount Vantage, PG-13) features Jessica Alba as a tragedy-stricken blind woman who undergoes a double corneal transplant that restores her vision. Yet once her eyesight returns, she begins seeing nightmarish and ethereal visions.
In the tradition of The Sixth Sense and The Grudge, Eye makes for another seemingly toned down PG-13 horror thriller striving the pull in the curious 18-29 age group that made The Grudge a $110 million-grossing hit. It also hopes to grab the attention of the wide-range of audiences that made The Sixth Sense the $294 million box office monster it was. Unfortunately, I can’t really see it doing either.
Reminiscent of the 1993 flop Blink, in which Madeline Stowe’s vision is restored to help catch a criminal, the previews for Eye peak a great deal of curiosity, ghosts, explosions, etc., but does not feel like anything original. Yes, it could be surprisingly good. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s just another ghost story.
Over Her Dead Body Boasts Hot Celebs
Next up is the conspicuous date flick Over Her Dead Body (New Line, PG-13), hoping to lure couples and pack houses full of teenage girls and older women. Eva Longoria Parker plays the dead fiancée of the somber Paul Rudd, who now falls for a clumsy psychic (Lake Bell), who can see Parker’s spirit. But before their relationship can kick off, Parker’s jealous spirit returns and attempts to stop the romance.
Dead Body is easily the kind of screwball comedy that could potentially draw in this weekend’s biggest crowd, especially for anybody desperate for a rehash of Reese Witherspoon’s Just Like Heaven. For me? Not my cup of tea. But I’ll still bank on it to be this weekend’s biggest (or bigger) draw. Longoria Parker is hot off Desperate Housewives. Rudd is hot off Knocked Up. And Boston Legal dame Lake Bell is gaining the kind of traction that could kick off a decent movie career as a leading lady.
Strange, Yet Mediocre Wilderness
Then there’s Strange Wilderness (Paramount, R) starring Steve Zahn and Justin Long. In this film, Zahn is the son of the recently deceased host of a TV show entitled “Strange Wilderness.” The ratings begin to sink, so Zahn figures out a way to save the show when he finds a map leading to Bigfoot’s secret cave. And no I’m not kidding, that’s what the movie is actually about.
I will not lie when I say that I did not find a single thing funny in the previews, but I expected pure mediocrity and inanity that plagued such films as I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry anyway. Taking the crass route and featuring the likes of Superbad’s Jonah Hill and Live Free or Die Hard’s Justin Long, Wilderness will probably be a hit anyway just because Adam Sandler’s camp never let their films tank. Brainless and cheap (especially that lame laughing shark bit), nothing about the film’s concept and previews are remotely funny beyond its tagline “This ain’t March of the Penguins.”
Final Predications
As far as predictions go, I call a very close race between Over Her Dead Body and Strange Wilderness. Body could be edged out by Wilderness if it achieves the same opening weekend success of Chuck & Larry last year and open with $30 million or more (or it could bomb entirely). Dead Body could eke out $17-22 million while The Eye could grab somewhere between $11-14 million.
None of the films really interest me I will not lie, but if I had to choose, I’d go for fluffier fare like Over Her Dead Body. But spending $8 for Strange Wilderness? Over MY dead body.
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