rainy weather seems out of place for the locale of Malibu. Nevertheless, the
cinematography is good, using shadows and moving reflections of light off the
water to set a creepy mood. It's too bad all the spendid imagery is wasted
on a subpar story with cardboard characters. I'd like to blame the
screenwriter for the poor quality of The Glass House, but I wouldn't like to
completely absolve the director for this mess. Like far too many so-called
thrillers to grace the screen in the last two decades, this one is lazy, and,
to work, relies on the audience not thinking. Brain activity is the enemy of
The Glass House.
This is the worst of times for teenager Ruby Baker (Leelee Sobieski). She
sneaks out of the house to rave with her friends and returns to find out that
her parents were killed in a car crash on Mulholland Drive. She and her
younger brother, Rhett (Trevor Morgan), are ophans, albeit weathy ones.
Their parents' estate lawyer Begleiter (Bruce Dern), informs them that their
new guardians are the Glasses, Terry (Stellan Skarsgard) and Erin (Diane
Lane), a seemingly perfect couple who bring the two kids to live with them in
their palatial Malibu glass mansion. But, as is easliy guessed in a movie
like this, neither Terry nor Erin has the children's best interests at heart.
Stellan Skargard apparently decided to play the character of Terry taking him
way over the top. This man's every action screams out, "Diabolical!". Diane
Lane isn't much better. In fact, the only one who plays her part straight is
Leelee Sobieski, and with everyone doing their best to overact, she seems
like she's in a different movie. Frankly, in terms of a career move, it
would have been better if she had been in one.
In The Glass House, the actors are pawns of the narrative. The plot relies
on the characters doing idotic things. That might be forgivable if the plot
wer engrossing, but in this movie we're always two steps ahead of the
characters. The film has two consistent attributes: stupidity and
predictability. The Glass House isn't just cracked, it's broken.
Review: 1 1/2 stars (out of 4).