Delayed Reaction: The Lovely Bones

The Pitch: A girl tells the story of the investigation into her murder.

All I really know about this was that it was based on a book that was always in stock when I worked at Target back in the day, it was kind of a box office dud, and people insist that Stanley Tucci deserved an Oscar nomination for his role. On the latter-most point, I fully agree. That dude is creepy and Tucci is uncomfortably great. I can also see why it didn't do so well in theaters. The film can't quite settle on what it wants to be. It plays like a teen-drama. Peter Jackson shoots it like something much bigger (Kind of the natural conclusion from Heavenly Creatures and Lord of the Rings). A lot of the subject matter is quite grisly. It doesn't come together all that well and the "heaven" stuff is non-committal in a way that isn't very inventive.

Still, the moments that Peter Jackson gets right are interesting. Tucci and Saoirse Ronan's performances are pretty great. It's crazy how long she's been around, given her age and level of success. Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, and even Mark Wahlberg do what they can with their roles. It's a lot of talent on screen. The story never comes together though.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend