Case 39 (2009)

Number Rolled: 1

Movie Name/Year: Case 39 (2009)

Genre: Horror

Length: 109 minutes

Rating: R

Director: Christian Alvart

Writer: Ray Wright

Actors: Renee Zellweger, Jodelle Ferland, Ian McShane, Bradley Cooper, Callum Keith Rennie, Adrian Lester, Kerry O’Malley, Cynthia Stevenson

There are horrible people in this world. People who have kids and then decide they don’t want to be parents. People who make the child believe that it’s their fault. Emily Jenkins is a social worker. Her job is to take on the cases of these kids; find a way to either mediate the family’s problems or take the child away and place him in a loving home. She’s got a full case-load at 38, but with the department backed up she’s forced to take on #39: the strange case of Lilith Sullivan.

I’ll tell you point blank that the critics and I do not agree on this one. Where do I start? Ok, the movie itself was a little slow-starting, but I was never bored. Yes, it took some time to get to the core storyline, but there were enough things happening to keep me invested until then, without confusing me.

I read a few reviews that accused this movie of being a recipe movie. I don’t really agree with that. In fact, I don’t agree with it at all. Was it ground-breaking or show-stopping? No. It might not have even been fully unique, but I don’t believe it was a recipe.

I’m a fan of Bradley Cooper and was happy with his performance, but there’s no surprise in that. Renee Zellweger, however, was a surprise. I’ve never seen her perform in a thriller/horror. It’s very possible that this kind of performance is par for the course in those kind of movies for her. However, from what I’ve read, the critics trashed her, and this is where my biggest disagreement lays. I thought she was fantastic in this.

Maybe they’re all seeing something I’m not. Is there some secret critics club where they decide just by reading a blurb what to think about movies? This movie and its cast were trashed by people I’m not convinced watched it. I’d easily watch this movie again.

Overall Opinion – 3.5/5