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Poster (c) Columbia/Tristar
Are you tired of the already-clichéd genre of teen “horror-thriller” movies? Then skip The Glass House, yet another entry into this overgrowing yet popular series of movies that appeal to few, as the average critic’s rating can show.
Leelee Sobieski is Ruby Baker, a rebellious 16-year-old. Her brother Rhett (Trevor Morgan) is a typical 11-year-old who loves video games. One day, however, their parents die in a car accident and they are sent to live with family friends, Terry and Erin Glass (Stellan Skarsgård and Diane Lane). They have a huge Beverly Hills house made out of-you guessed it-glass. However, Ruby and Rhett’s parents left over $4 million in inheritance, and could the Glasses be after that money, or is it Ruby’s overacting teenage imagination? You get three guesses and the first two don’t count.
One or two tense scenes and good acting by one person does not a good movie make. The predictability of it all is just stunning, and, in case you couldn’t tell some things, director Daniel Sackheim (TV’s Kingpin) decided to show every single detail so we could understand what was happening. It’s to my understanding that most movies are supposed to have a little air of mystery, a little cliffhanger, something to keep you guessing, to keep you enthralled. No such luck here, since everything here was so thudding obvious, it wasn’t any fun to watch.
One of the only good parts of an otherwise degrading film was Skarsgård. He is a powerful leading man (incidentally, his performance in The Glass House is similar to his performance in the subpar, 1997 Norwegian Insomnia), and it showed here, except he wasn’t the lead. One of those supposed up-and-coming stars that fade out after their one “hit” when they’re praised for their acting when actually they overact is Sobieski. She seemed excited to play a lead, and tried hard, but it just didn’t work. Lane has almost no screen time, making her subplot about being addicted to insulin worthless.
There were one or two tense scenes, but unsuspenseful scenes of mediocrity surrounded them. I think that since all of it was so predictable, that really killed the suspense. If you want to see a worse teen horror-thriller, see Swimfan. But if you want a mediocre one, then see The Glass House
Rated PG-13 for sinister thematic elements, violence, drug content and language.
Review Date: May 15, 2003