Dream House

Starring: Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Elias Koteas
Directed by: Jim Sheridan
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A man (Daniel Craig) and his wife (Rachel Weisz) discover their new dream house was the location of several grisly murders a few years ago. As they dig deeper into the crime, they soon fear for their own safety.

Review:

Tim: I will say that Dream House at least holds your attention while you watch it. I found myself interested and engaged throughout most of the movie. Jim Sheridan is a talented director, and he does manage to keep us focused on the movie while we watch. The problem happens after the movie ends, and you start thinking about what you saw. This is when the movie really broke down for me. There are plot holes, confusing events, and quite a number of flaws that eventually cause the movie to crumble. I still don't fully understand what this movie was trying to be.

I do have to blame a good deal of the film's failure on the studio. If anyone remembers the trailer, it actually reveals a pretty huge twist in the film. This is beyond stupid. Now, I understand that this twist isn't the "main" or only one, but it is fairly large regardless. I suppose I do need to mention this, so Spoiler Alert! (especially if you haven't watched the previews). So, in the trailer, we are basically told that Daniel Craig is the one who killed his family years ago- the mysterious murderer he's been investigating. Now, this is really the initial step to a much larger story, but it takes almost 45 minutes for us to find this out in the film. True, it's not the big twist, but the first 45 minutes are a bit ruined because I was just waiting for the characters to find out what I already knew. Now, you can't really fault the film for this, but it definitely ruined a potential bonus for a twist we didn't see coming.

I'm still a bit confused about what this movie was really about. I suspect that there was editing done by the studio, because this certainly doesn't seem like a coherent, well-planned story. Is this a movie about a crazy person? Is it a story of crime and murder? Is it a ghost story? You could make the case for all of these, and more. While the film gets some credit for combining a hodgepodge of different elements all into one film, the reality is that this creates a disjointed, difficult viewing experience.

Daniel Craig is fine in the lead role, but I would not say he gave a great performance. I never felt like he established a connection with the audience, and as a result, I never really cared about his character. I thought Rachel Weisz was likewise fine. She is a really talented actress, and brings that talent to the film, but her character wasn't especially dynamic or interesting. The same can be said about Naomi Watts- talented actress, not exactly great on screen here. I do want to mention that Elias Koteas in a film scores automatic points in my book, so I did enjoy seeing him here.

I really wanted to like Dream House. It looked like an atmospheric, creepy thriller that would undoubtedly have some twists and turns. While the movie manages to hold our attention, on closer inspection, this is simply a poorly made, poorly edited film. It does a few things right, but these aren't enough to overcome the movie's many flaws. This should be considered a disappointment.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Others, The Amityville Horror, The Shining