'The Box'

'The Box' (PG-13) **

Writer: Richard Kelly based on the short story "Button, Button" by Richard Mattheson
Director: Richard Kelly
Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, James Rebhorn, Holmes Osborne

Richard Kelly's first movie "Donnie Darko" was a box office bomb that became a cult classic thanks to a group of devoted fans and I was not one of them. I admire Richard Kelly's dark, original vision and that he tried to do something different. I just don't get why people love that movie? I am a big fan of cult films that are dark, confusing and different but not that one. Be careful what you wish for Kelly fans because since "Donnie Darko" had become successful on DVD you were then given "Southland Tales" which is Kelly's second film and it is horrible and insufferable. That second movie joined my short list of movies I wanted to walk out of in the middle and I rarely do that. Well "The Box" I can pretty much guarantee will not become a cult hit and I actually think it is his best movie so far. I always give an actor and a director another chance. Heck I even gave Tyler Perry 12 tries before I liked a movie of his.

I think "The Box" is the most coherent and entertaining story Kelly has given us up until a certain point. That is thanks to it being based on a short story by the great writer Richard Matheson who writes suspenseful and out there stories. This is the same short story "Button, Button" that was a basis for a "Twilight Zone" episode. The film is set in 1976 and a couple played by Cameron Diaz (lame Southern accent) and James Marsden (no Southern accent?)are given a box by a disfigured and mysterious stranger played well and solemnly by Frank Langella. The box has a button and if the couple pushes it someone they don't know will die and they will receive a million dollars. There are some rules to this though and this movie is off to a good start. It makes you think if you would push the button if given the chance and with my situation now in real life I would probably do it. We know of course that if they push it something brown will hit the fan. So the movie has you going and then something happens that grinds the film to a halt. The movie becomes hazy, confusing and boring. Kelly throws in NASA experiments, aliens, the ideal of heaven or purgatory I think and the movie then lost me as did his first movie not because it was confusing but because it became sloppy and dull. Then the last half hour turns out to be fun and suspenseful as twists and turns start to develop but by then I lost interest. "The Box" is not a bad movie it just doesn't move smoothly or make an impact after the bravura first half hour. I still won't give up on Kelly though.