MOVIE REVIEW - The Box

Cameron Diaz stars in the new mystery thriller The Box.

The Box is the story of a young couple in 1976 living in Richmond, Virginia with their young son. They get by, but are not rich by any means. One day out of the blue, they are presented with a very strange proposition. A small box is left on their front porch with a red button. Attached is a note. A man named Mr. Steward will visit you at 5pm to discuss this box.

When he shows up, he presents them with an option. If they push the button, someone on earth with die that they do not know. And they will receive 1 million dollars for their effort. Decline and the box is picked back up in 24 hours, and the offer will go to someone else. So it's a choice of conscience movie. What would you do? And who on earth would make such an offer? These are the predicaments to The Box.

This movie is based on a short story called Button, Button. And you can certainly tell that while watching The Box. It's a rather compelling story and a real good idea. But to be honest there just isn't enough here for a 2 hour movie. The Box struggles with it's pacing badly. Slow, slow, slow...sheesh let's go here. Some real disjointed plot lines, and lousy dialogue really put a drag on The Box. It was so slow I was trying to push the button hoping it would movie this thing along.

One real bright spot though, Frank Langella as Mr Steward is remarkable. Langella is a fine, fine actor, and in his important but limited role, he is really the movie bright spot. I think Langella would be great in whatever movie he would choose. And in a movie that is really not very good, he is splendidly good.

The Box. It's a short story, and too long a movie. Rent this movie over the winter is you wish, when Netflix is running low on ....everything else. Or wait till it's on TNT 5 times a week in 3 years.