Issue date: 1/22/10 Section: The Verge

By now, we have all heard that when a book is adapted to film, the book is almost always better than the film version.

Although I have not read "The Lovely Bones," written by Alice Sebold, I pray that this statement rings true.

Hearing nothing but great things of the book and an all-star production staff built of Peter Jackson, made famous by "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, and young rising star Saoirse Ronan, also seen in "Atonement," it was assumed this would be one of the great movies of the year.

It missed the mark, to say the least.
The movie's plot is based off the death of Susie Salmon after a neighborhood pedophile follows Susie home from school.

After her death, Susie stays trapped in a realm between the real world and heaven.
Susie's death tears her family apart as her father, Jack, played by Wahlberg, is obsessed with finding his daughter's assumed murderer, and her mother, Abigail, played by Weisz, wants to forget the tragic event ever occurred.

Ronan has been nominated in many different award ceremonies for her roll as Susie, and rightfully so.

She brings a mature sense of acting way beyond her years in a cast built around veteran actors and stands as the highlight of the film.

Jackson is said to have personally bought the rights for the film adaptation of the novel after reading it and falling in love with the story.

The story itself has no flaws.

The biggest flaw with the movie was casting Wahlberg as the tremendously depressed father.

It feels as though he is trying to hard to look and seem depressed instead of engulfing himself into the role of what a father would feel like if this were to happen to him.

In fact, it was painful as an audience member to watch each scene featuring Wahlberg in a role he wasn't fit to play.
Although she is sparsely featured, the anguish and shock shown through mother is well developed by Weisz, but not seen enough.

Unaffected by the entire situation is the grandmother, Lynn, played by Sarandon.

She shows no grief, nor is she disheartened in the slightest.

Sarandon shows her brilliance in acting as she stands as the chain-smoking rock of the family.

Visually, Jackson didn't show the audience anything they haven't seen before, as it seemed he directly stole themes and scenes from the 1998 release "What Dreams May Come."
Overall, the movie lacks suspense and excitement that many great thriller films try to obtain.

The film equally lacks in sorrow and depression on behalf of the supporting actors that is typically seen in great dramas.

Stuck in the middle of these two genres the film remains as simply average.

Nothing more and nothing less.

Brad York can be reached at 581-7942 or bayork@eiu.edu.

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