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Starring
Eva Longoria Parker
Paul Rudd
Lake Bell
Jason Biggs
Directed by
Jeff Lowell
Final Grade:
B-Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language
a review by Heith Carnahan
The Rundown
Kate (Eva Longoria Parker) and Henry (Paul Rudd) are planning the perfect wedding. But their plans would seem to include living through the event, and unfortunately, one of them won't: on The Big Day, Kate bites the dust in comical fashion courtesy of a falling ice sculpture, and Henry is left to deal with the devastation.
A year later, Henry still hasn't come out of it. His sister Chloe persuades him to see part-time psychic Ashley (the lovely Lake Bell) in the hopes that she'll tell him Kate wants him to get on with his life. The problem is that once the plan is hatched, Kate's ghost comes back to haunt Ashley, who suddenly realizes she wants Henry for herself.
It becomes Kate's job to keep the two apart, Ashley's job to succeed despite the ghostly intervention, and Henry's job to make sense of it all... if he can.
Just for Fun
And it'll be your job to realize that while Over Her Dead Body was nowhere near the disaster I expected it to be, it still exists strictly for fun and no other purpose. It's not great cinema, it won't be a blockbuster, and it certainly won't be the crown jewel on any actor's film resume. If you go in with a loosey-goosey, fun-minded attitude, you'll get at least a B- experience out of it just like I did.
As someone who reviews movies for an Internet audience, I find I have a terrible time balancing the need to remain at least semi-neutral going into a movie with the sickening feeling that I'm sitting down to see something that looked altogether stupid in its trailer. Here's where the Paramount Vantage marketing team utterly failed: the trailer for Over Her Dead Body couldn't look any cheesier. It couldn't have made the movie seem any less appealing to anyone with even an average IQ. But, I discovered today, it's a case of Reverse Trailer-itis: all the bad parts were in the trailer, and the movie itself, while hardly award-winning, is so likable and good-humored toward its unsuspecting audience that you can't help but have some fun.
If your moviegoing glass is half full, you'll get some good laughs out of the film; if it's half empty, you'll be looking at the handful of gags that you could tell were supposed to be funny. Jason Biggs takes most of the credit for the unfunny (a switch for him -- playing the comedic chump is usually his strong suit), and his role as Ashley's gay friend Dan has no reason to exist for at least the first half of the movie. Strangely enough, the character takes on new life in the third act when the script decides to grow a real heart, and that's when you begin to realize that maybe trailers aren't everything after all.
I can't believe I've never seen Lake Bell in anything before; her Ashley is altogether charming, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of her in the future. Eva Longoria Parker was born to play Bridezilla and is even fun and likable when she's making Ashley miserable. Paul Rudd turns in an appropriate straight-man performance, and even Jason Biggs finds a purpose that doesn't involve baked goods or super glue, so there you have it.
The Bottom Line
You've got to be in the mood for it, but it'll be a fun time for anyone not taking themselves too seriously. I don't think I've been this surprised in a long time.
-- Heith Carnahan, heith @ movie-popcorn.com