The Lovely Bones (2009)

THE MOVIE: The Lovely Bones (2009)

MOVIE SLOGAN: The story of a life and everything that came after…

MAJOR PLAYERS:
* SAOIRSE RONAN – Susie Salmon (not quite her debut, but definitely her first major role)
* RACHEL WEISZ – Abigail Salmon (known best for her role as the mummy killing historian Evelyn O’Connell in The Mummy saga)
* MARK WAHLBERG – Jack Salmon (the one and only from the Funky Bunch)
* STANLEY TUCCI – George Harvey (known as Miranda Preistly’s fashion editor in The Devil Wears Prada and also as Julia Child’s husband in “Julie & Julia”. It appears he likes to work with Meryl Streep a lot)
* SUSAN SARANDON – Grandma Lynn (the one and only Louise from Thelma and Louise)

BEST QUOTE(S): “Grandma Lynn predicted I would live a long life because I had saved my brother. As usual, Grandma Lynn was wrong.” – Susie Salmon

WHY THE GUYS WILL SEE IT: Because it appears to be a thriller with their favorite “baller” Marky Mark.

WHY THE LADIES WILL SEE IT: Because we read the book, which was compelling, and want to see how it will be interpreted to the silver screen.

MARKETED AS: A psychological thriller murder mystery. EXECUTED AS: A drama. But for anyone who has read the book, they knew beforehand that this is not a thriller.

SYNOPSIS: Taking place in the 70s when forensics hasn’t quite been developed, a young 14 year old is murdered by her neighbor. Susie Salmon, the juvenile victim, is not quite ready to move on to heaven, and watches over her family, friends and murderer from a heaven-like purgatory. She observes her family and friends as they cope (or not cope) with her absence, and she looks over her murderer hoping for his justice.

MY THOUGHTS: Ok, so let me start with how I really don’t like the marketing for this movie. I mean, really, really, REALLY didn’t like the marketing for this movie. Nothing pisses me off more than when a movie markets itself for one thing, and it’s completely not what you expected. Seeing the previews for this movie, I was really excited to see it because I’m a big fan of the thriller and the “who dunnit” movies. So, what did I do? I got on my little Kindle and downloaded The Lovely Bones right away and started reading it.

Well, I read The Lovely Bones cover to cover (figuratively speaking, since it was technically an ebook) waiting for there to be justice given to the neighbor who takes Susie Salmon’s life. That’s why it was such a page turner, it’s a murder mystery, (although you know the killer from the get go) but you want to know if he ever gets caught. The answer? A big fat no. I was so pissed when I finished reading the book because this is NOT a story about a murderer getting justice. This is a story about the family and the friends of Susie Salmon and how they either bond or fall apart following her untimely absence. Now in all fairness, had I read this book with an empty slate and an open mind, I would think that this was a good book, BUT I was expecting A THRILLER based on the movie ads.

So, now thinking that I didn’t want to see the movie anymore, because the book was more of a tear-jerking drama instead of a thriller… but then I watched the “Sneak Peek of The Lovely Bones by HBO.” And Peter Jackson’s vision seemed intriguing and it was still instilled as a psychological thriller. So, I thought to myself, maybe they changed the book (as movies often do) and made it still into some sort of a thriller. So, I resolved to see the movie. Now, as I mentioned before, the book is not a bad book. I just felt mislead. So, my friend, Natalie and I set on to see The Lovely Bones.

So thoughts on the actual movie itself: If you’ve read the book, like I said, you know it’s not a thriller, it’s a drama. The artistic direction is incredible. The colors and the portrayal of Susie Salmon’s “heaven” is amazing and very creative. But instead of spanning 10-15 years like it does in the book, it only spans like a year to two years. So several key events are cut and repositioned and changed to make the story line fit into two hours. However, if you didn’t read the book, the movie is very confusing and actions of the characters are not given motivation. I may not have felt this aspect of the movie, but until I kept having to turn to Natalie to explain to her what wasn’t there, I realized that this is not a movie to see unless you HAVE read the book.

THE VERDICT: I would come up with a creative pun, but there’s nothing I can come up with that doesn’t sound absolutely morbid or inappropriately sexual. (I mean, really… how can you not come up with something inappropriate with a title of The Lovely Bones? It’s a bad Porno title just waiting to happen.) So, I’m just to come out and say that the movie is a decent portrayal of the book. If you haven’t read the book, it will be confusing and chaotic. If you’ve read the book, wait to rent it on Netflix or On Demand, if you haven’t read the book, wait until it’s free on a movie channel, or don’t bother.