Dream House Review

Posted by Joseph Lee on 10.02.2011

Morgan Creek should be ashamed.



Starring:

*Daniel Craig as Will Atenton
*Rachel Weisz as Libby Atenton
*Naomi Watts as Ann Patterson
*Marton Csokas as Jack Patterson
*Elias Koteas as Boyce

Story: Soon after moving into their seemingly idyllic new home, a family learns of a brutal crime committed against former residents of the dwelling.

Trivia: Christian Bale and Brad Pitt were considered for the role of Will.

It wasn't until after viewing this film that I learned of Dream House's problems behind-the-scenes. Apparently test audiences didn't like the way the film was going so director Jim Sheridan was forced to re-shoot some sequences. Many directors have revealed their dislike for test audiences, as they feel it hinders the creative process. Finally, Morgan Creek just took the production away from Sheridan and edited it together themselves. As a result of all of this, Sheridan, Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz have all disowned the final cut of this movie.

It's important to tell you that because after learning what happened, it made the disaster that appeared on screen make just a little bit more sense. Not in terms of the story, that was incredibly easy to figure out. But one wonders how a film with a director like Sheridan (My Left Foot and Brothers) and a cast that includes Craig, Weisz, Naomi Watts and Elias Koteas could turn out to be a boring waste of celluloid.

Dream House is a mess of a movie that doesn't quite know what type of film it wants to be, so it decides to approach three different genres with very little care or effort. As a horror film, it's not scary. I'm not sure it was ever intended to be a horror film, even though it was marketed as such. As a mystery/thriller, it features very little of both. The mystery is easy to figure out, and it wasn't helped by Morgan Creek's promotion, which gave away a twist. But then, I'm not sure that not knowing the twist would have changed the fact that everything is so obvious. If you don't think "he's the villain" the first time they show the man who will be revealed later as the antagonist, then you haven't watched very many movies.

The one area where this film is at it's strongest is as a psychological drama. I get the feeling that this is maybe what Sheridan was attempting, but I have no way of knowing that for sure. The twist, which I won't reveal even though the trailers already do, happens a third of the way through the film and the rest of the movie is more or less the characters dealing with that. If this were a film about a family trying to cope with a startling, albeit supernatural revelation, then it would probably work a lot better.

The reason the drama portion of the film works I think I should attribute entirely to its cast. Daniel Craig gives a great performance as Will Atenton. It's multi-layered and exactly the kind of show you'd expect from him. There's a scene just after the twist that involves himself and Weisz that is heartbreaking and poignant, until the plot intervenes and ruins it. It still remains the best scene in the film. Weisz in particular plays the housewife well, and has a lot of chemistry with Craig, which actually surprised me.

There were also some touches here and there I liked, subtle changes that maybe you'll pick up on, and maybe you won't. It's odd that they should appear in a film where nothing else is subtle. All of these praises pale in comparison that it's not just not a well made film. It's agonizingly slow in places, which as I've mentioned in previous reviews is inexcusable for a movie that runs at only ninety minutes. A few of the cast members, like Naomi Watts, are wasted in minor roles. Elias Koteas has it really bad. He's always been an underrated actor and he barely has more than a cameo. I have a feeling a lot of story with these two was left on the cutting room floor.

Thanks to studio involvement, Dream House is a mess and ends up joining other films of the same type. The type of "horror" film (I use that term loosely) that has an A-list cast, a low-key story and ends up being bland, uninspired and dull. You know the kind I'm talking about. Movies like What Lies Beneath, Godsend or Cold Creek Manor. Like all of those films, Dream House will quickly be forgotten. Unlike those films, there are hints that this one could have been really good, which makes it all the more disappointing.

The 411: Dream House is a disappointing film that fails on nearly every level. It doesn't quite know what type of film it wants to be. It's not scary, it's not suspenseful and it's ultimately a bore that wastes the talents of its cast. It appears the studio ruined what could have been a promising film just for the sake of simplifying everything down for the audience. Not a promising start to the horror movie season of October.

Final Score:  4.0   [ Poor ]