1408 -- The Curse of the Overrated Film Review

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AndyDursin
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1408 -- The Curse of the Overrated Film Review

#1 Post by AndyDursin »

Jeez I've just about had it with this summer's "unanimous raves".

First KNOCKED UP -- mildly amusing but not hilarious and definitely overrated -- and now 1408.

Now, I have to say -- it's pretty decent. John Cusack gives a really strong performance in what's basically a one-man show, and it's one of his best. Yared's score is solid and the direction is assured as well.

Regrettably this is one of those films that hooks you in for 2/3 of the way and falls almost completely apart in its final 20 minutes.

There's no ending. Or, there is one, but it's a false ending (which you just know isn't real, and basically starts the film's downward spiral), and then there IS an ending, but it's not nearly enough. After drawing you in with the creepy editing and sound design, there's just not enough of a pay-off, not enough development, to make the film worthwhile. There's no explanation for the haunting either. And the very last scene is just head-scratching, far too abrupt with no set-up for its inclusion either.

I'm not sure if the film was once longer and was cut per Harvey & Bob's instructions down to 94 minutes...or maybe there was just never enough to it to begin with. 1408 certainly has that "cut every 5 seconds" feel which really proves to be a drag because there's no time, at the end, to absorb the drama or what's happening. It's all too quick, too abrupt, and then there's the lack of payoff when all is said and done.

Reading through all the 4-star reviews for this movie, it just makes me feel that we're in a really bad, awful rut in cinema today when a film that proves to be disappointing like this -- and KNOCKED UP -- are the best reviewed films of the entire season.

This movie is certainly okay but I can't really recommend you spend $10.25 (admission has gone up 50 cents at my theater in the last 3 months) on it either.

I think these filmmakers are going to be hitting themselves as well because the beginning and middle of the film are so effective that it's crushing to see how much the movie sputters and dies in the last 30 minutes.

Walking out I could hear groans from all kinds of other patrons who felt the same. It's like there's a line between the portion of the film that works...and then the one that doesn't at all.

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