Over Your Dead Body
- 7 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Not since "War of the Roses" has an onscreen couple been so determined to knock each other off! Jason Segel and Samara Weaving star in OVER YOUR DEAD BODY, an over-the-top, if occasionally unbridled bloody comedy with firepower to spare.
Segel (Shrinking) stars as Dan, a movie Director with one film and a long downward spiral into commercials and streaming that's left him uncommitted and struggling. His actress wife Lisa (Weaving) seems like she's more interested in having fun than the tightly wound Dan.
The two have a long weekend planned at Dan's Dad's cabin in the woods. Dan's Dad Michael is played by Paul Guilfoyle (legendary in 300+ episodes of CSI) in a scene stealing performance that made me laugh harder than anything else in the film. Michael is ex-military, not putting up with ANYONE's crap, especially Kevin (Cha-Lee Yoon), the orderly at his assisted living home.
The couple's weekend devolves into a standoff pretty quickly as they quickly learn that they are both there to kill the other one and end the marriage. Insurance money looms.
Weaving knows how to kick ass on the big screen, as any fans of the two "Ready or Not" films are already aware. Segel's Dan may be twice her size, but she's twice as clever & fast, a dangerous combination for Dan's life expectancy.
As anyone that watches Dateline knows, the more co-conspirators you bring into your plan, the less chance you have of executing your plan, or your spouse.
Dan's chosen very poorly with Henry, hilariously played by Jake Curran. Bright, he ain't.
Just when you think it can't get any crazier, three escaped convicts drop from above, where they are hiding in the cabin's attic, right into the murderous mayhem between Dan and Lisa.
At first, for me, the arrival of the trio derailed the flow, but the performances of all three won me over.
The ALWAYS great Timothy Olyphant (Alien: Earth, Justified) plays Pete, the charming convict who's convinced prison guard Allegra (Juliette Lewis) that he's madly in love with her and they had to escape to be together.
Lewis is channeling her "Natural Born Killers" energy as the batshit crazy Allegra. Jealous, possessive, delusional and just plain nuts, Allegra isn't playing with a full deck.
Giant blunt instrument Todd (Keith Jardine) rounds out the trio, saying more with his eyes and reactions to Pete than he does verbally. Jardine is hilarious and takes more stabs, punches and bonks on the head than humanly possible.
Director Jorma Taccone (Popstar) struggles to keep all the moving pieces intact and moving forward with purpose as the film gets a bit repetitive in its second act.
But with actors like Olyphant, Segal, Weaving and Lewis at his command, nothing sits still for very long and madness of one sort or the other is just around every corner.
Segel oozes so much everyman charm that you can't help but root for him, right alongside Weaving.
Dysfunctional doesn't quite cover the intensity of Dan & Lisa's feeling about each other. For that matter, it fails to measure up to the flaws in Pete and Allegra's escapee romance. Lewis whining "Why are you always micromanaging me!?" at Pete during an attempt to torture info out of Dan and Lisa is a high point.
The final act recovers from the soft middle with a tight series of violent confrontations at the cabin. Great one liners, graphic body trauma and one hell of a beating awaits. Watching Lewis trying to repair her foot, which has been blown literally in half made me laugh out loud for more than a few seconds.
OVER YOUR DEAD BODY is worth seeing for any fans of dark comedy, Tarantino style graphic violence and general mayhem. It's not an all time great, but it made me laugh a lot. This one is NOT for the kids!
I'd buy a ticket to a prequel all about Guilfoyle's war vet and ass-kicking retiree, Michael. There's enough undiscovered history between he and Kevin to fill a novel.
Guilfoyle's midnight ride in Kevin's Tokyo Drift style car alone is worth the price of admission.
OVER YOUR DEAD BODY shoots, stabs, punches and wrestles its way to an entertaining B-. When it was over, my only comment was, "well that was crazy...."
Red Band trailer below.
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