Review of The Lovely Bones (2009) by Chris H — 29 Nov 2012

Susie Salmon is a young girl who is murdered by her neighbor and then watches over her family from the ?in between? seeing how her family is torn apart by her death she has to decide between having her family heal or seek vengeance against her killer.

Susie?s Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is a young girl who has just fallen in love for the first time; tragically she is murdered by her neighbor George Harvey (Stanley Tucci). The police have nothing to go on with no body being found they have to treat the case as a missing person. With no leads Susie?s family has a tough time coping with her loss and quickly grows apart. The father Jack (Mark Wahlberg) is intent on finding out what happened while the mother Abigail (Rachel Weisz) runs from the pain and the family. George soon sets his eyes on Susies? younger sister Lindsey and Susie tries to help her family stop him.

The lovely bones is a colossal disappointment the only thing that stands out is Stanley Tuccis Awesome performance as the creepy neighbor with a penchant for murdering young girls. Tucci is truly the only reason to see this film, from his comb over and mustache combo to his hobby of building a dollhouse there is nothing that isn?t repugnant about George Harvey. On the flip side you have Mark Wahlberg who feels the need to whisper every line. The lovely bones is a film with no clear path or direction one minute Abigail is so upset she leaves her family and the next her mother Grandma Lynn (Susan Sarandon) is in a pointless comedy montage complete with soap suds unleashed from a washing machine and extinguishing a fire on the stove with the water from a house plant. The sequences of Susie in the ?in between? feel like an excuse to utilize CGI rather than advance the story and the voice over doesn?t work either.

Tucci is Amazing and the rest of this is a jumbled mess. Amazing how one person can be so good and everyone else can fall so flat. Grade -68.