IN BRIEF: A horror of a film.
JIM'S REVIEW: (NOT RECOMMENDED) False Positive is a loopy and uninspired horror film about infertility and "mommy brains", a phrase I never heard of, but everyone else in this movie has, since they banter the term regularly throughout the movie. The film is a very bad re-working of Rosemary's Baby without the supernatural ties or the class.
Lucy and Adrian Martin (Ilana Glaser and Justin Theroux) have been desperately trying to have a child to no avail. After Adrian urges his wife to use the services of his mentor and eminent fertility doctor, Dr. John Hindle (Pierce Brosnan), they score a triple run on their first time at bat. But as Lucy contends with her pregnancy complications, be they real or imagined, strange events continually occur, none of which are ever fully explained. Are things being created in her "mommy brain", or are others conspiring around her? She'll find out in nine months. As for moviegoers, you never do with this muddled far-fetched screenplay.
There is no logic or suspense in this foreboding tale, just lots of dopey nightmarish sequences, cheesy CGI that are downright silly, and a blood-spattered Grand Guignol climax that implodes every scene before it. Mr. Lee's direction is consistently sub-par and he unsuccessfully relies on visual excesses and bloody gore effects to build tension. (Cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski must have taken Mr. Lee's discussions with him about making a dark thriller far too literally, as many "atmospheric" scary scenes are dimly photographed which hides any possible action.)
The screenplay by director/writer John Lee and its leading lady, Ms. Glaser, purport their film to be a disturbing psychological thriller, but everyone acts either so sinister or strangely proper that nothing makes any sense. Scares are at a minimum, unintentional laughs are more a-plenty.
The actors (and the audience) deserve better, although Mr. Brosnan comes off unscathed as the good doctor, and Gretchen Mol as his loyal Stepford nurse provides some nicely underplayed menace. As the new parents, Mr. Theroux has no real character to play and doesn't, and as for Ms. Glaser, let's just say she's no Mia. Good grief, she's more Mamma Mia in her stilted acting choices.
No, there is nothing really positive that I can say about the disappointing and absurd False Positive. Except to add: Prognosis negative...mommy brains and all!
JIM'S REVIEW: (NOT RECOMMENDED) False Positive is a loopy and uninspired horror film about infertility and "mommy brains", a phrase I never heard of, but everyone else in this movie has, since they banter the term regularly throughout the movie. The film is a very bad re-working of Rosemary's Baby without the supernatural ties or the class.
Lucy and Adrian Martin (Ilana Glaser and Justin Theroux) have been desperately trying to have a child to no avail. After Adrian urges his wife to use the services of his mentor and eminent fertility doctor, Dr. John Hindle (Pierce Brosnan), they score a triple run on their first time at bat. But as Lucy contends with her pregnancy complications, be they real or imagined, strange events continually occur, none of which are ever fully explained. Are things being created in her "mommy brain", or are others conspiring around her? She'll find out in nine months. As for moviegoers, you never do with this muddled far-fetched screenplay.
There is no logic or suspense in this foreboding tale, just lots of dopey nightmarish sequences, cheesy CGI that are downright silly, and a blood-spattered Grand Guignol climax that implodes every scene before it. Mr. Lee's direction is consistently sub-par and he unsuccessfully relies on visual excesses and bloody gore effects to build tension. (Cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski must have taken Mr. Lee's discussions with him about making a dark thriller far too literally, as many "atmospheric" scary scenes are dimly photographed which hides any possible action.)
The screenplay by director/writer John Lee and its leading lady, Ms. Glaser, purport their film to be a disturbing psychological thriller, but everyone acts either so sinister or strangely proper that nothing makes any sense. Scares are at a minimum, unintentional laughs are more a-plenty.
The actors (and the audience) deserve better, although Mr. Brosnan comes off unscathed as the good doctor, and Gretchen Mol as his loyal Stepford nurse provides some nicely underplayed menace. As the new parents, Mr. Theroux has no real character to play and doesn't, and as for Ms. Glaser, let's just say she's no Mia. Good grief, she's more Mamma Mia in her stilted acting choices.
No, there is nothing really positive that I can say about the disappointing and absurd False Positive. Except to add: Prognosis negative...mommy brains and all!