Glass House is shattered glass
September has been a depressing month. America has discovered its mortality, the market is decidedly bearish and for those of us desiring an escape from the blue funk of reality, there are no good movies in town.
Hollywood couldn’t have known we’d be needing a happy distraction during the month of September. They just stuck to the marketing game plan they’ve always embraced: Summer’s over, school’s back in, save the good flicks for the holidays. After all, that’s the time when families get together, realize why they moved apart in the first place and escape to the theaters.
The Glass House is a classic example of the kind of movie-making swill that gets slopped onto our trays during the end of summer dry spell. It’s one of those kids versus psycho-parents flicks that assumes its audience is viewing on a third grade level.
The film’s main characters, Ruby and Rhett, are siblings whose parents are killed in a car accident. Never fear, ma and pa were rich, leaving their children with a tidy $4 million. Enter Terry and Erin Glass (note the clever name) – next door neighbors and friends of the deceased parents. We soon discover they are to be the children’s guardians, and sadly, their worst nightmare.
If only the Glass’ intentions had been honorable. Everyone could have lived happily ever after, the movie would have ended an hour early and I could have gone home. No such luck. There were still rich kids to exploit and millions of dollars to steal. My attention waned as the movie wore on to its predictable end.
It’s too bad really. Glass House had potential. It could have been a thriller that actually kept audiences guessing at its intent. Instead, the studio summarized the entire film in the trailer by revealing virtually all the plot twists and dramatic highlights. The choice to give everything away in the preview is a trend that is becoming all too common. It confirms what I’ve always suspected – Hollywood thinks we’re stupid.
Someone also made the decision to obnoxiously hammer each nuance of the story home as if we were all watching the film with an annoying friend who had seen it before and insisted on explaining everything. This had to be a studio decision. Director Daniel SackheimÃ’s previous work includes E.R., Law & Order and the X-Files – programs all renowned for their engaging stories. I can’t believe he would let this happen.
Somewhere along the line the creators of this movie got off track. Had the film been done correctly, it could have ushered in the end of a dismal fall season. Instead, it just helped prolong it.