Poor Jim Sheridan, we love the dude, but he seems to have fallen on a run of weird, wacky luck. The director followed up his beautiful and brave “In America” somewhat inexplicably with the 50 Cent thingy “Get Rich Or Die Tryin’.” He seemed to return back to fare worth his talent with “Brothers,” the remake of the Susanne Bier film, but the film was delayed and when it finally landed in theaters both critics and audiences shrugged off the war drama. A bit unfair really, since it was a very strong film with excellent performances all around by Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman with a breakthrough turn by Bailee Madison. But Sheridan’s hard luck continued on “Dream House,” another return to mainstream fare.
Originally scheduled to be released late last year, delays again kept the film out of theaters as required reshoots with lead actor Daniel Craig had to wait until the increasingly busy thespian had a window in his calendar that would allow him a moment to set off the set of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” Unfortunately, that didn’t happen until December forcing Universal to push back the film to this fall and now the question is — has the wait been worth it? With the first trailer arriving today, we’re not so sure.
Starring Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts, “Dream House” follows the story of a successful New York publisher (Craig) who moves his wife (Weisz) and children to a New England town, where they buy the home of their dreams. That dream, however, is shattered when they learn that the previous tenants were murdered, leading the husband to team with a neighbor (Watts) to learn the truth about the crime. It’s pretty weird to see Sheridan playing with such rote genre stuff as this and the trailer — which seems to give way too much away — displays a film that seems hardly worth the time for the excellent cast involved. In what is a conceit we recently saw in “Shutter Island” it appears that Craig may just be imagining his family life and career but maybe he can just ask Elias Koteas — once again doing the “creepy dude” schtick — what is going on since he’s been in both movies anyway.
It’s a little disheartening to see Sheridan toiling away and what ultimately seems like a throwaway thriller but maybe there’s more to it? We’re losing faith on that front. “Dream House” opens on September 30th. Synopsis, poster and trailer below (or in HD at Apple).
Some say that all houses have memories. For one man, his home is the place he would kill to forget. Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts and Rachel Weisz star in Dream House, a suspense thriller about a family that unknowingly moves into a home where grisly murders were committed…only to find themselves the killer’s next target. Successful publisher Will Atenton (Craig) quit a high power job in Manhattan to relocate his wife, Libby (Weisz), and two girls to a quaint New England town. But as they settle into their new life, they discover their perfect home was the murder scene of a mother and her children. And the entire city believes it was at the hands of the husband who survived. When Will investigates, he’s not sure if he’s starting to see ghosts or if the tragic story is just hitting too close to home. His only clues come from Ann Paterson (Watts), a mysterious neighbor who knew those who were shot. And as Will and Ann piece together the haunting puzzle, they must find out who murdered the family in Will’s dream house before he returns to kill again.