The House That Jack Built - Dream House

1 out of 5 Popcorn Kernels

See Trailer Here

WTF! of in the case of Dream House...WTH! How could a movie, with really the inner-workings of a great premise (one we have seen in other movies that have starred Demi Moore and Bruce Willis) - and with a great cast, have managed to have gone so the full 360-degree of wrong. If you drop the "D" in this title you would described just how I felt at the end of this horror/thriller/unexpected comedy of a movie.

Dream House, like many movies these days is told in a constant flashback/reality - and involves a story whose surprise moment is already exposed in the trailer. When a movies trailer gives up on the surprise, I already have buterflies that this-ain't-gone-be-good. I have to say, I was more angry at this movie than disappointed. It was like a cake that fell in the oven - still good on the inside, but a waste of butter and sugar.


The story begins with Will (Daniel Craig), who leaves his job in New York, to move with his wife Libby (Rachel Weisz), and their two girls, into a home in Connecticut - one of those homes where you know nothing normal can happen - so that he can work on his novel. And no soon as he moves in, does strange things start happening; Libby sees a stranger outside the window, footprints of the manly nature are in the snow, the neighborhood kids are holding a seance in the basement...and a longtime neighbor Ann (Naomi Watts), is hanging about, looking at Will strangely.

...I was wondering how this man was eating the imaginary food his illusion wife may have made for him? Or if they made love...well, let's not go there.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

This movie could have gone in a very good direction with a plot like this, and should have involved a bigger cast besides just one neighbor. How would the other neighbors feel seeing Will/Peter move back in the neighborhood? What was it like back at the hospital as he dealt with his families death? What about his wife's family? These answers are never explored, because the screenplay seems to want to get through the plot as fast as it can, and it turns into a thriller - asking the question: did Will/Peter actually kill his family?

Then it starts to fall apart like wet bread, and I was mystified at how trapped these great actors were in a script and direction that was trying to go in too many directions in too little time. The flashback of how the family died, was at once pitiful and laughable (the things Hollywood will do to keep a PG-13 rating). All of this leads to an ending that answers many of the movie's questions - but similar to an M. Night Shyamalan, the end isn't worth the two-hours leading up to it.

This movie might work for at-home viewing, with the knowledge that it is NOT to be take seriously...and hopefully if you fall asleep, YOUR Dreams, will be better than what Dream House delivers.