Released January 15, 2010
Hey… You’re that Salmon girl…
On an auspicious Tuesday night I ventured to the Hamilton AMC movie complex to see Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones, a movie based on Alice Sebold’s best selling novel (2002). I had seen some previews for the movie and it looked like a potentially awesome psychological thriller. I hadn’t read the novel so I wasn’t entirely familiar with the plot but did know it had something to do with a girl who is murdered, raped, and while in some sort of “in-between” world, helps guide her father (Marky Mark) towards her killer (Stanley Tucci), whose performance is unbelievable – he was one of the best creepers I think I’ve ever seen (I even tweeted about it). It seems most people get the gist of the film from the previews, so I won’t spend any time recapping what it’s about, and for those who are not familiar, I won’t give too much away. I’ll merely give some of my impressions, and you can take it for what it’s worth…
The movie was… fine. It didn’t move me. It had moments that were extraordinarily well done. Moments of great acting. Moments that were captivating, and moments of strong dialogue. But, at the end of the day, it was just fine. Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), the protagonist and victim is an endearing, but homely high school freshman who seems like she could be in 7th grade. One of my gripes with the movie, while small, is that her dream boy, a senior in high school who looks like a British Mark Sanchez (Ray Singh, played by Reece Ritchie) falls in love with her just before she is murdered, after meeting her just once. This relationship is not developed and it is unclear (w'sup LVB) how, and if the two actually know each other. It is confusing because earlier in the film Susie claims that Ray doesn’t even know she exists. This is totally ridiculous (well, ridiculous at least to the viewer who is wondering how this could possibly happen… Ray Sanchez is WAY out of her league). Whatever. Fine. It’s a movie, but over and over again throughout the film, Ray continues to drop the most UNBELIEVABLY corny lines, which without fail evoke a burst of laughter, and maybe a snort… Let me explain: "You ah Beeeeeeutifel, Susie Salmon".
I literally had to cover my mouth when Ray drops these lines (it happens about three times throughout the movie, but only in the most serious of scenes). My issue is not specifically about this relationship, but things like this make the tone of the movie very confusing and difficult to determine. At times, the viewer is overcome with great sadness. At other times, it’s light and interesting and mysterious. The viewer simply is taken in and out of 'the zone' by these silly moments. There’s another character who was a huge distraction for me – Holly (Nikki SooHoo) whose character could easily be mistaken for Miss Bunny Swan from Mad TV. Holly was murdered by Susie’s same murderer and bonds with Susie in the in between world. The fake Asian accent that SooHoo puts on is wildly distracting and sort of hilarious.
The best part of the movie for me was Stanley Tucci’s incendiary performance as George Harvey, the killer. His lines (unlike Ray’s and Holly’s) are fierce and timely. Tucci completely nails this role, and frankly, saves this film from being a flop. Tucci reminds all of the viewers how terrifying and real children stalkers/murderers/rapists are. The line he uses twice, first on Susie Salmon, and then on her sister, gives goosebumps… "Hey, you’re that Salmon girl from down the street!” Oooooof. I would be terrified of this man, even though he’s an old creeper who at the end of the movie is completely juked and over powered by Susie’s 'healthy' younger sister. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. Stanley Tucci was great.
I’m sorry if this review was all over the place. It’s difficult for me to get over some aspects of this movie and it is unfortunate that those small things took so much away from the seriousness and legitimacy of the film for me. I certainly appreciated many aspects of the film, but this day and age, you gotta give me a little more than what this movie gave me… I left thinking, what the hell was that movie about?
Final Word: I’d skip it or read the novel, which is supposed to be really great.
2 out of 4
(Review by Luke of Earl)
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