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Poster (c) Columbia/Tristar
Are you tired of the already-clich�d genre of teen �horror-thriller� movies? Then skip The Glass House, yet another entry into this overgrowing yet popular series of movies that appeal to few, as the average critic�s rating can show.
Leelee Sobieski is Ruby Baker, a rebellious 16-year-old. Her brother Rhett (Trevor Morgan) is a typical 11-year-old who loves video games. One day, however, their parents die in a car accident and they are sent to live with family friends, Terry and Erin Glass (Stellan Skarsg�rd and Diane Lane). They have a huge Beverly Hills house made out of-you guessed it-glass. However, Ruby and Rhett�s parents left over $4 million in inheritance, and could the Glasses be after that money, or is it Ruby�s overacting teenage imagination? You get three guesses and the first two don�t count.
One or two tense scenes and good acting by one person does not a good movie make. The predictability of it all is just stunning, and, in case you couldn�t tell some things, director Daniel Sackheim (TV�s Kingpin) decided to show every single detail so we could understand what was happening. It�s to my understanding that most movies are supposed to have a little air of mystery, a little cliffhanger, something to keep you guessing, to keep you enthralled. No such luck here, since everything here was so thudding obvious, it wasn�t any fun to watch.
One of the only good parts of an otherwise degrading film was Skarsg�rd. He is a powerful leading man (incidentally, his performance in The Glass House is similar to his performance in the subpar, 1997 Norwegian Insomnia), and it showed here, except he wasn�t the lead. One of those supposed up-and-coming stars that fade out after their one �hit� when they�re praised for their acting when actually they overact is Sobieski. She seemed excited to play a lead, and tried hard, but it just didn�t work. Lane has almost no screen time, making her subplot about being addicted to insulin worthless.
There were one or two tense scenes, but unsuspenseful scenes of mediocrity surrounded them. I think that since all of it was so predictable, that really killed the suspense. If you want to see a worse teen horror-thriller, see Swimfan. But if you want a mediocre one, then see The Glass House
Rated PG-13 for sinister thematic elements, violence, drug content and language.
Review Date: May 15, 2003
