'The Box' review

Cameron Diaz (Credit: Warner Bros.)

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Norma (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur (James Marsden), a happily married couple with one son living in 1970s Virginia, receive a mysterious package at their doorstep. Inside is a box with a big red button on top and a note that informs them to expect a visitor. That visitor turns out to be the seriously disfigured Arlington Steward (Frank Langella, minus half his jaw) who tells Norma that pushing the button will do two things: provide her family with $1 million in tax-free cash and also cause a total stranger to die. She and Arthur have 24 hours to decide whether or not to push the button.

The buzz: Writer-director Richard Kelly made a big splash with his cult classic debut, “Donnie Darko,” followed by a bigger thud with his widely derided political sci-fi epic “Southland Tales.” “The Box” marks his first film for a major Hollywood studio and was inspired by legendary sci-fi writer Richard Matheson’s short story “Button, Button.”

The verdict: There’s a lot more going on in “The Box” than its simple and provocative premise might suggest. Arthur works at NASA, the movie opens with a memo from the NSA that mentions Steward, and there’s all sorts of talk about Mars and aliens and sci-fi comics. Oh, and Norma teaches Sartre to students at a private school. You can’t fault Kelly for lack of trying, “The Box” is certainly one of the strangest Hollywood films of the year. But what’s intended to be a trippy, philosophical sci-fi parable winds up more overwrought than unsettling. Diaz and Marsden are lifeless and unconvincing in their dull roles, the screenplay is cluttered with risible lines like “What is it to really know someone?” and “You’ve got blood on your hands,” and the miscalculated score by members of Arcade Fire works overtime to convey a sense of tension and foreboding that’s notably lacking in the action on screen. Kelly hopes audiences leave the movie discussing Norma and Arthur’s dilemma, but the real topic that lingers after the film is “Who thought it was a good idea to make this?”

Did you know? Langella’s disconcerting appearance took eight months of digital effects work to pull off. He filmed his scenes with motion-capture marks on his face that were later replaced by a digital make-up design.

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