2 stars
I knew I had seen this somewhere before.
And so I have. If you weren't watching television in the 1980s because, say, you hadn't been born, you won't get this reference. But those of you "of a certain age" might appreciate it.
Richard Matheson is arguably one of the greatest living writers. He wrote "What Dreams May Come" and "I Am Legend," which has been the basis for three different movies.
Back in the 1970s, he wrote a short story called "Button, Button" that became a segment of "The Twilight Zone" in the 1980s series. In that episode, a couple receives a locked box with a note that a "Mr. Steward" will be coming to visit them. And so he does (Steward is played by Basil Hoffman). He tells them that they will receive $200,000 if they press the button on the box. And when they do, someone they don't know will die.
But the couple is in dire need of money, and so the wife pushes the button. And I won't tell you what happens at the end. Because it changes the ending to the original story, so much that Matheson himself disowned the "Twilight Zone" version.
I can't imagine what he thinks of the current movie "The Box," which further mucks up his original tale.
In this one, the stakes are higher: $1 million. The movie is set in 1976, when Norma and Arthur Lewis (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) who receive the box after their financial stability begins to crumble.
This time, Mr. Steward is played by Frank Langella, who tells them that someone they don't know will die when the button is pushed. They have several conversations about it. What if they kill an elderly person is waiting to die? What if they kill an innocent baby? Once they decide on a course of action, events more horrifying than anything they could imagine begin to unfold.
The "Twilight Zone" version of the story filled an hour-long show. But that included commercials. This screenplay is forced to fill two hours of screen time without breaks, and does it ever go veering off in puzzling directions during its running time.
Now the moral dilemma becomes a science-fiction piece that including mocking students, people with nosebleeds, conspiracies, aliens and disfigurements.
When it comes to stories like this, less is more. Head to the library and check it out (literally) for yourself.
Running time: Two hours.
Rated: PG-13 for violence, death and other adult themes.
Stars: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, Sam Oz Stone, James Rebhorn and Holmes Osborne.
Director: Richard Kelly.
Screenwriters: Richard Kelly, based on a short story, "Button, Button" by Richard Matheson.