REVIEW: Glass House is shattered
There are times when the plot to a movie is less than phenomenal, but with gifted actors and good performances, the movie can still be enjoyable. On the flip side, if you have a movie filled with mediocre actors, but the plot is brilliant, then the audience may still walk away fulfilled – although this is much harder to pull off.
Unfortunately for The Glass House, it had neither a great plot, nor a single cast member that could shine the light of talent into this non-suspenseful, predictable thriller.
Lee-lee Sobieski (Switch, Never Been Kissed) is in the best position to take the movie to a higher level, but feels unnatural in the leading-lady role. Sobieski plays Ruby Baker, a teen whose parents die in an automobile accident and she, along with her younger brother Rhett, played by Trevor Morgan (Jurassic Park III, The Sixth Sense), go to live with a couple – who were at one time, neighbors and friends of their parents. Although Sobieski does all of the things that movie makers like to have their young, leading ladies do – like taking a moonlight swim in a revealing bikini and begin to undress – I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was watching my sister do these things and wanted to avert my eyes. It isn’t that Sobieski isn’t attractive, it’s that she doesn’t have the ability to draw a person in emotionally, to connect with them in a way that a leading lady has to for the audience to care whether she lives or dies.
The story stays mostly with Sobieski’s character as she begins to learn who her new guardians are and the many secrets they are keeping. Unfortunately, there is very little consistency with the motivations behind Terry Glass, played by Stellan Skarsgard (Timecode, Deep Blue Sea), and even less time spent on his wife Erin Glass, played by Diane Lane (The Perfect Storm, My Dog Skip).
The Glass House is the first feature film directed by Daniel Sackheim, who has directed episodes for several great television shows like The X-Files, NYPD Blue and ER.
Beyond the guardian’s last name being glass and their extravagant house having a lot of glass built into its architecture, The Glass House seemed to be more transparent and empty than suspenseful and entertaining.