A shame, then, that a film that starts with asking such a definite question, to push the button or not, should end so vaguely that it fails to push ours.
Comment
12/04/09
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The Box (2009)
45
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:123
Fresh:55
Rotten:68
Average Rating:5/10
Consensus: Imaginative but often preposterous, The Box features some thrills but largely feels too piecemeal.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating]
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:Nov 6, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $114,882,598
Synopsis: What if someone gave you a box containing a button that, if pushed, would bring you a million dollars…but simultaneously take the life of someone you don’t know? Would you do it? And what would... [More]
Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, James Rebhorn
Director: Richard Kelly
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Reviews for The Box
A lot of stuff about Nasa, Mars exploration and amateur theatre – Sartre’s Huis Clos and its glowing chestnut adages (“Hell is other people”) – add to the film’s richness or, depending on opinion, its overcooked confusion.
12/04/09
The single question I wanted to ask was: how many more times will a studio allow Richard Kelly to commit career suicide?
12/04/09
The 1976 setting is nicely evoked in some hideously familiar wallpaper, fashion choices and facial hair but the film never feels more than a convoluted shaggy dog story stretched out over a very long two hours.
12/04/09
Kelly maintains a suitably creepy atmosphere throughout and the frequently twisty plot is both intriguing and unpredictable, at least in the first half.
12/04/09
While it's fascinating and twisty, with a wonderfully creepy atmosphere, it's also pretentious and overwrought.
12/04/09
Nowhere near as bad as the hype suggests - although if you're in the mood for something straightforward, this is not for you.
12/04/09
A heartfelt, brain-bending mystery just slippery enough for answers to remain tantalisingly out of reach.
12/04/09
There's plenty to like in a film that proves Richard Kelly's touch hasn't deserted him after Southland Tales' critical and commercial battering.
12/03/09
This box needed a STOP button.
12/02/09
An allegorical hash that fails as often as it succeeds in articulating its one core, coherent point: we are as moral as our options.
12/01/09
The only way to get your money's worth out of The Box is to walk away from the ticket counter without paying.
11/30/09
...writer/director Richard Kelly effectively evokes the feel of a '70s paranoia thriller by stressing images and sequences of an increasingly unsettling nature.
11/29/09
all at once an engrossing genre piece, an exceptional exercise in expansive adaptation, and a complex moral allegory, so that this is a Box that requires a lot of unpacking - which of course makes it the gift that keeps on giving...
11/23/09
Outlandish embellishments serve as annoying distractions to a perfectly good premise in this disappointing thriller.
11/18/09
A box full of boredom.
11/18/09
Kelly, king of dumbed-down nihilism, takes a short Twilight Zone TV episode, “Button, Button,” and extends it unendurably...
11/18/09
The choice is yours, but I suggest you push that button for your ticket and see The Box in theaters.
11/17/09
A cool, philosophical mindfreak.
11/16/09
This hokum might have been entertaining if Kelly could have somehow made this "Twilight Zone" material more credible.
11/16/09
Latest News for The Box
November 05, 2009:
Critics Consensus: A Christmas Carol Dazzles But Disappoints
This week at the movies, we've got some modern-day Dickens (Disney's A Christmas Carol, starring Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman); a button-pushing thriller (The Box, starring... More...
November 03, 2009:
Richard Kelly Talks The Box 
It's been a long and somewhat bumpy ride getting "The Box" to theaters, but director Richard Kelly is finally on the verge of releasing his latest film. He talks about the... More...
October 29, 2009:
Richard Kelly chats about The Box
Richard Kelly's no stranger to the mysterious whims of fate. His first feature, Donnie Darko, flopped upon initial release, only to live on as one of the decade's most beloved... More...
September 28, 2009:
New: Brand New Movie Trailer/Poster
More...
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