'Open House'
(Stephen Moyer, Anna Paquin, Rachel Blanchard, Brian Geraghty, Tricia Helfer, et al / DVD / NR / 2010 / LGF)
Overview: A couple on the verge of a nasty divorce attempt to sell their empty love nest and move on with their lives, separately. After a successful open house, they are horrified to discover, days later, that a potential buyer didn’t leave their home!
DVD Verdict: I honestly wondered why Anna Paquin was in this and how it was she got offed so early in the proceedings. Then at the end you see it was her brother who wrote and directed it and that fell into place! But that was about all that fell into place here!
The plot was actually a pretty good idea. A couple (brother and sister?) take over a house that's on the market and occupy it. To do so the man was supposed to off the female owner. The rub comes from the fact that he couldn't do so and, instead, has her bound in a storage place in the basement unbeknownst to his partner.
Of course his captive wants to escape and strikes up a rudimentary relationship with him to try and do so. He wants to believe her and remove himself from this sick cycle he's in but doesn't know if he can trust her. The problem is that it doesn't get resolved in a clever enough fashion. As a matter of fact. there is no way to see the end coming and when it does it simply doesn't add up.
There are some things to like here. The play between the two leads is curious and creepy. You want to know what the story is between them. When, at a small dinner party, the female hints that they might be twin brother and sister it really piques your interest. Unfortunately, it's not resolved well enough to my liking. The music is a bit weird. What little I remembered was a rather foggy, indistinct, drugged out sounding L.A. punk or EMO.
This is a watchable enough movie. The performances are decent. It's shot well enough. It just loses it's way and finally falls apart - sorry! [ES] This is a Widescreen Presentation (2.35:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:
Commentary with Actor Brian Geraghty and Director Andrew Paquin
Deleted Scenes
Trailer Gallery
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