Recommendations of the Editorial team
You probably know that one couple who is always just one subliminal argument away from turning a restaurant into one Crime scene – a passive-aggressive swipe from ruining a dinner party, a half-filled wine goblet from tipping into a full-on rager. This is Dan and Lisa. He (Jason Segel) was once a promising filmmaker whose debut film caused a stir on the festival circuit. Today, this frustrated author is making the pop-up ads that keep popping up on your phone. She (Samara Weaving) is an actress who dreamed of becoming the next Blanchett or Streep. Now she’s struggling to land roles in off-off-Broadway basement theater productions. Neither privately nor professionally nor maritally are the two of them remotely satisfied. As we all know, misery loves company – but these two? They hate each other deeply, with all their hearts, with every fiber of their being.
What’s even more suspicious is that Dan casually but persistently mentions to everyone from his colleagues to his retired father (Paul Guilfoyle from “The Good Fight”) that they’re going to the country this weekend. He keeps talking about Lisa’s planned hike in one of the more dangerous areas near her cabin, about the bad weather that is expected, and about the fact that he had warned her to be careful. Almost as if he was preparing an alibi in case his “loved one” did anything Bad should happen. The bag with rope, tape and saw in his trunk certainly points to an agenda that goes far beyond simple relaxation.
Dan and Lisa argue on the drive there. They argue when they arrive at the pretty forest cabin by the lake. They argue over how Dan prepares the steaks – supposedly “her favorite meal” – for a dinner that feels eerily like a final meal. By the way, it’s not your favorite food – that’s a whole separate story that’s better left alone – but the point is: they argue. And argue. And argue and argue and argue. Argument, argument, argument, argument, argument! You’re so busy watching the two of them tear each other apart that you almost missed an earlier TV news report about escaped convicts. Or that you didn’t notice that a knife was missing from the wooden knife block in the kitchen.
Hitchcock meets Nora Ephron
“Over Your Dead Body” prepares you for something somewhere between romantic comedy and dark comedy – the story of a missing wife and a “grieving” husband, equal parts Hitchcock, Nora Ephron and a “Today Show” special report. On the way to Dan’s divorce-by-murder plan, however, there are a few twists and turns – and a dozen plot twists and wild tone changes that come at you with 200 things. Maybe Lisa isn’t as helpless or clueless as we thought. Dan’s buddy Henry (Jake Curran) may be even more incompetent when it comes to aiding and abetting murder than previously suggested. Uninvited guests – namely the fugitive criminals Pete (Timothy Olyphant) and Todd (Keith Jardine) as well as the amorous prison guard Allegra (Juliette Lewis) – may throw a lot of sand into the wheels. And perhaps lawnmowers, pool balls, sharp-edged trophies and other seemingly harmless household appliances can cause significant bodily harm if necessary.
You wouldn’t necessarily call this American remake of the 2021 Norwegian film “The Trip” a horror film, but given the amount of cinematic blood spilled in the second half, it’s definitely genre-adjacent. “The Gore of the Roses” sends greetings. Whoever hired Jorma Taccone as director deserves a raise – because the founding member of the Lonely Island is a master at turning the escalation spiral towards total absurdity. Anyone familiar with “Popstar” or the trio’s famously stupid “SNL Digital Shorts” knows that Taccone has a keen sense of visual wit – timing is the be-all and end-all of comedy; Image framing and movement are the same in film comedy – which is incredibly useful if you want to choreograph LOLs and OMGs at the same time. There’s a word for this style of storytelling, and Taccone deserves credit for delivering a compelling take on it without simply aping the genre’s most famous exponent.
Tumble mode
The film still occasionally overwhelms, especially when the third act completely shifts into lurch mode – but it’s hard not to like a film that gives Segel and Weaving – last seen in the similarly vicious, wonderfully overwrought “Ready or Not 2” – the freedom to be so equally unlikable. The same goes for the Olyphant-Jardine-Lewis trio, who perform their own amateur theater version of “Escape at Dannemora” within this black comedy about a premeditated death-til-us-part marriage. “Over Your Dead Body” knows that maintaining a harmonious relationship despite petty jealousy, paranoia and personal quirks is difficult; surviving a hostage situation with desperate lunatics and sociopaths is even harder; and keeping the balance between laughter and gagging is the hardest thing of all. It’s best to watch it with someone you can’t stand.
