The Lovely Bones review by Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

It’s Thursday, which means it’s…

Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

The Lovely Bones (2009) dir. Peter Jackson

Release Date: December 11, 2009 (limited; expands: Dec. 25; wide: Jan. 15)
Studio: DreamWorks Pictures (Paramount)
Director: Peter Jackson
Screenwriter: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci,Michael Imperioli, Saoirse Ronan
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic material involving disturbing violent content and images, and some language)

Official Website: LovelyBones.com

“The Lovely Bones” tackles deep emotional questions, and then pours on fairy-dust from a CGI paintbox. And then decides to try and be a thriller. Whether that makes it powerful or unbearable might depend on your taste, but it’s not a comfortable mix. Peter Jackson’s ten-year detour into spectacular creature features courtesy of Tolkien and a big gorilla hasn’t rubbed out his darker side, but he doesn’t stop this film clogging up with marshmallow. I don’t think he wants to.

The story should make anyone wince. Teenager Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is murdered by a creepy neighbor, and observes her parents, her friends, and her killer from a candy-bar afterlife of shifting landscapes and flocking wildlife. Exactly why she’s stuck there isn’t clear until the end, but it lets Jackson find several inventive ways to meld poor dead Susie into the continuing lives of her parents.

But those lives never become as vivid as they should. Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz do their honorable best, and Wahlberg gets one electric scene opposite Oscar-nominee Stanley Tucci as the killer, but their characters keep doing things that don’t feel right. Weisz is even shunted offscreen for large chunks of the plot, making the mother an incidental figure – a ridiculous move.

Susie’s afterlife is where the real action is, a place where big chunks of symbolism roll across the landscape while Brian Eno’s music wafts dreamily by. Saoirse Ronan was only thirteen years old when the film was made, but has a gift for making acting look effortless. The film she’s in doesn’t feel effortless at all.