Review of Over Her Dead Body (2008) by Andrew B — 12 Mar 2009

Disappointing comedy that struggles to overcome the combination of unlikeable characters, a poorly judged, largely unfunny script and a distinct lack of chemistry between the leads. What exactly is the joke here? She's a ghost who wants to stop her fiancé from dating a living person.

So she's the bad guy, right? And what's her plan? Just keep talking loudly? What a big comic set piece that is. Fortunately, Paul Rudd just about rescues this from being completely unwatchable, even though there's zero chemistry between him and Bell.

Similarly, there's a sequence of good gags involving a parrot towards the end, but by that time it's a case of too little too late. The working title for the film was Ghost Bitch, which was highly appropriate, because Kate is an extremely bitchy character and it's hard to feel any sympathy for her.

Similarly, Lake Bell does her best and has a certain amount of comic timing but her character's initial deceit means that she's not that likeable either. The script is extremely poorly judged in places, not least when it comes to a late twist involving Jason Biggs' supposedly gay best friend character.

In addition, the jokes are mostly tedious, eventually resorting to fart gags in a desperate (and doomed) attempt to get laughs. In short, Over Her Dead Body is just about watchable but it never quite works.

If you're in the mood for a comedy about a ghost haunting her former partner, then rent the far superior Blithe Spirit instead.