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Web-Exclusive Review: The Lovely Bones

Alternative Press - Tim Karan on 12/11/09 @ 10:57 AM - altpress.com

DRAMA
THE LOVELY BONES (Paramount)
STARS > Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci, Michael Imperioli, Susan Sarandon
DIRECTOR > Peter Jackson
OPENS > DEC 11 (Limited)
RATING > 4/5

Turn on the TV and it's almost impossible to scan the channels without hitting at least one cop show. Hell, there's even an entire network dedicated to the sub-genre of crime dramas. (That'd be the Sleuth Network, for those of you who want to set your DVRs.) Whether you're following alongside Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote or Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson from Law And Order: SVU, there's something intensely exciting and altruistically satisfying about the possibility of bearing witness to murderers, rapists, thieves and other low-lifes getting their asses thrown in the big house. However, no matter how great it feels for us to see justice being served, what does it feel like for the victim?

That's exactly what The Lovely Bones addresses by allowing 14-year-old Susie Salmon to tell the story of her own unsolved rape and murder. Not fully prepared to let go of her life, Susie (played by the incomparable Ronan) ends up occupying a sort of pre-Heaven, in-between magical place where she can live out some of her unfound fantasies while, at the same time, watching her parents grieve, her friends mourn and the cops fruitlessly search for her killer (played by Tucci, who sports the creepiest blonde comb over and is definitely a devil sans Prada.) With director Peter Jackson (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy) at the helm and Brian Eno providing the soundtrack, The Lovely Bones seems destined for cinematic greatness--but that doesn't mean the film is without it's flaws, however miniscule.

Sure, Jackson might be a special effects genius, but brevity doesn't seem to be in his vocabulary. In other words, much like the director's previous work, The Lovely Bones runs long. More importantly, it feels long. (Running time clocks in at 137 minutes.) Also, as the parents of a missing child, Weisz and Wahlberg seem kind of--how shall we put this?--blasé about the whole thing. Sure, they get upset and cry and smash things and stuff, but their actions seem void of any real emotion--and isn't that why they're getting paid the big bucks? Nit-picking aside, fans of the book, which was hailed as an official Oprah Book Club selection back in the day, which have been waiting more than five years to see their favorite tome come to life on the big screen won't be disappointed thanks to Jackson's creative storytelling and Ronan's honest depiction of a voice that's rarely heard. --Leslie Simon

To read a Close-Up interview with The Lovely Bones star Saoirse Ronan, check out AP 258, on sale now.

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