Publications
Partners
What it's about:
Will Atenton leaves his high-power job in the city and moves his family to their dream house in the suburbs. Everything’s looking up until he discovers a family was murdered in the house they just bought, and the town believes the father is the culprit. He starts following clues to track down this father while the town folk and police refuse to help him. But why are all the neighbours looking at him so strangely?
What we thought:
The most exciting thing about this movie is that lead stars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz hooked up and got married after reconnecting on set.
Dream House is a poor patchwork offering that combines the plot of Shutter Island, the facade of The Amityville Horror and the random tragedy of Reservation Road. Nothing new to see here.
Daniel Craig plays Peter Ward and Will Atenton, the actual man and the persona he’s created for himself to deal with his family’s death. Will has to make two discoveries: 1) He is not Will Atenton and 2) who really killed his family. However, his investigation is so tedious you end up not caring what really happened – just put this guy back in the loony bin.
If any of those developments are meant to be a surprise "twist", the filmmakers are not all that concerned about building up to it anyway as it's revealed in the trailer.
The house itself is given too much focus in the trailer, perhaps intentionally, but it’s a let-down to discover there’s nothing sinister or darkly magical about the building.
While director Jim Sheridan succeeds in building suspense and intrigue at the outset, the resolutions are just too stale to maintain the audience’s interest.
Weisz and Craig are great together – that too is obvious. While there’s nothing wrong with their performances in this movie, they are both too good for it. It’s like seeing Brad Pitt in a Japanese ad for toothpaste – it just doesn’t feel right.
Naomi Watts plays the secretive neighbour Ann and her solemn, silent "answers" to Peter’s desperate questions are enough to drive anyone crazy. She totally overplayed this role.
There’s really no reason to go watch this snooze-fest.
Will Atenton leaves his high-power job in the city and moves his family to their dream house in the suburbs. Everything’s looking up until he discovers a family was murdered in the house they just bought, and the town believes the father is the culprit. He starts following clues to track down this father while the town folk and police refuse to help him. But why are all the neighbours looking at him so strangely?
What we thought:
The most exciting thing about this movie is that lead stars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz hooked up and got married after reconnecting on set.
Dream House is a poor patchwork offering that combines the plot of Shutter Island, the facade of The Amityville Horror and the random tragedy of Reservation Road. Nothing new to see here.
Daniel Craig plays Peter Ward and Will Atenton, the actual man and the persona he’s created for himself to deal with his family’s death. Will has to make two discoveries: 1) He is not Will Atenton and 2) who really killed his family. However, his investigation is so tedious you end up not caring what really happened – just put this guy back in the loony bin.
If any of those developments are meant to be a surprise "twist", the filmmakers are not all that concerned about building up to it anyway as it's revealed in the trailer.
The house itself is given too much focus in the trailer, perhaps intentionally, but it’s a let-down to discover there’s nothing sinister or darkly magical about the building.
While director Jim Sheridan succeeds in building suspense and intrigue at the outset, the resolutions are just too stale to maintain the audience’s interest.
Weisz and Craig are great together – that too is obvious. While there’s nothing wrong with their performances in this movie, they are both too good for it. It’s like seeing Brad Pitt in a Japanese ad for toothpaste – it just doesn’t feel right.
Naomi Watts plays the secretive neighbour Ann and her solemn, silent "answers" to Peter’s desperate questions are enough to drive anyone crazy. She totally overplayed this role.
There’s really no reason to go watch this snooze-fest.
