The Box

I'm about to save you some money and time and aggravation - Don't go see The Box. :P

We were looking forward to this movie, thinking it was intriguing - a couple is presented with a box that has a large button on it. If you push the button two things will happen - someone somewhere in the world will die, and you will receive one million (taxfree) dollars.

This story is one that has fascinated people for some time - the original story is named "Button, Button" by Richard Matheson. It was also made into a Twilight Zone episode.

The original story was as it should be - short. It presented this interesting concept that has spawned numerous conversations and debates. The Twilight Zone episode strained to flesh it out past a few minutes of reading and into 20 minutes or so of tv time by fluffing a bit and milking a bit and dragging a bit. This movie, The Box, absolutely destroys the concept. There is nothing but a grain of the original idea left after you add in the bales of fluff, the silly drawn out and boring dialogue, some very strange references to the "afterlife" and to Mars beings, and a whole lot of heavy, melodramatic music that plays throughout, mostly when nothing at all is happening on the screen.

We watched the audience in our theater skirm, check cell phones and several even left. We discussed leaving several times ourselves - God knows there's plenty of time to discuss anything you'd like with whomever is with you :P You're not going to miss anything in the movie, that's for sure.

What a waste of film. I wish I had my 2 hours back.

The only redeeming value of the day was seeing the friendly and helpful Eden at the ticket booth and fresh hot popcorn at the concession stand. Pueblo Tinseltown was the place. As we were walking out we heard comments like "I didn't like that at all" "I don't think anybody did!" and "Boy that was stupid" :P

This one gets a "1". It would get a negative number if it weren't for Frank Langella, a wonderful actor who has been in everything from Dave to Frost/Nixon. He does the best he can in this mess.