Review of The Life Before Her Eyes (2007) by Timothy S — 11 Jun 2011

I have no doubt that there's a good movie buried somewhere in the muck that is the film adaptation of "The LIfe Before Her Eyes, but you won't find it here. A movie that uses a bloody school killing spree as a plot device had better have a little more weight behind it than this. It might have something deep and meaningful to say about the horror of school violence and the grief it leaves in its wake, but the movie is far too shallow to matter much at all. It is nice to see Uma Thurman back on the big screen after a brief hiatus, and her performance here isn't the problem. It's far from her best work, but she manages with the weak material she's given. Evan Rachel Wood is a bright young star, but she's played this troubled, wounded character one time too many in her short career.

The script is confused and without focus, and the constant flashing back and flashing forward is distracting and does little to help this slight picture set and maintain a constant mood. And then there's that twist ending in a movie that wasn't exactly begging for a twist ending, and it completely derails the movie once and for all. It left me mystefied and frustrated, and it effectively puts the final nail in the movie's proverbial coffin.

The only good thing it accomplished is that it made me want to read the book just to help me sort out this mess and make sense of it all. I guess anything that encourages me to pick up a book can't be all bad, but "The Life Before Her Eyes" comes pretty damn close.

This is a well-intentioned but muddled mess that takes a very serious subject matter and doesn't give it the respect that it deserves.