February 10, 2008

Over Her Dead Body (2008)

2/5

Jeff Lowell's Over Her Dead Body is a clichéd romantic comedy about a woman who dies on her wedding day (Eva Longoria Parker), the groom who can't move on a year later (Paul Rudd), and a psychic who will tell him her dead fiancée wants him to move on (Lake Bell). It gets a bit more unnecessarily complicated, but suffice it to say that the two living people end up living happily ever after in the end. The hour and a half it took to get there involve a jealous ghost, a gay/straight Jason Biggs, and endless scenes where nothing interesting or funny happens. Actually, if you do find this plot mildly interesting, I recommend instead that you just watch the trailer, which contains all the good jokes, is available online for free, and only takes 2 minutes.

The characters are appallingly shallow, the music is magnificently inappropriate, and the special effects are low-budget and unconvincing. The plot detours a number of times and opportunities for cleverness and unique characterizations were ignored. Still, it was able to generate some honest laughs from me. I was surprised at some tender scenes in the beginning and Paul Rudd's acting was genuine throughout. But trust me--just watch the trailer.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0785007/