Wish You Were Dead

Okay, I'll admit 10 is a little high for this movie, but it has been unfairly panned by those who just don't like this kind of movie. As someone said in the review of a different movie, some people don't know the difference between a badly done movie and one they just don't like. This movie is not for everyone. It should only be watched by those that like dark (very dark, black even) humor. Outrageous characters with malice in their heart. If that is your cup of tea, then you may find this, as did I, very surprising and funny. It has top people in it playing it up to the hilt, as they should have. Cary Elwes, Christopher Lloyd, Elaine Hendrix, and Mary Steenburgen like I've never seen her before. Some have complained about Cary Elwes' acting in it. I thought he was priceless, playing a role very much against his usual type. The whole thing would not have been near as compelling had Cary Elwes not played it as he did. I found this movie very funny, but please note my warning at the beginning. This is for folks who enjoy plots wildly outrageous, their characters ridiculous, and their humor dark.

Oh *lordy* this was bad. I'm sure they were aiming for funny, but all I could do was sit and watch this train wreck of a movie in sheer unbelieving horror. So many good actors, so much horrible overblown awfulness! The designers, director and cinematographer seem to have gone to every length possible to make everyone in this movie look as terrible as possible. Handled correctly, this could have been humorous, or made the characters accessable, but instead it has only made it more obvious what overblown unappealing parodies they all are. This should, I suspect, have been funny, but for me, it fell continuously, horribly flat. If you like any of the actors in this film, please stay far away from it. It will leave you questioning their, and your taste. I have the feeling that many people in this did this as a favor to somebody, and ended up feeling very very betrayed. I sure did.

Hapless insurance investigator, 35 year old Mac (Elwes) has more to lose than just his virginity in this black comedy. When scheming older woman Sally (Steenberg) discovers that Mac has a $1million life insurance policy, she seduces him and cons him into signing it over to her. Once her plan is assured, she hires Melody (Hendrix), an assassin who specialises in bumping off unfaithful husbands. However, Sally doesn't bet on Melody falling in love with Mac...

Well, what can I say? I have watched this film several times on DVD and I think it's ace. Heavily stylised and camped-up, it maybe; a play (in parts) it might be; but it is funny and subtly ironic in many ways. Elaine Hendrix excels herself in this film as the blonde temptress/ hit-woman. The Cary Elwes character is a little irritating but necessary to the point of the plot. Mary Steenburgen (a great actress) is surprisingly sexy as the middle-aged vamp! It is a well acted and directed film which should make all but the most cynical and jaded laugh. Okay, the plot, in some ways, is a little simplistic but that's not the point of the film. It's a black comedy, okay? It doesn't have to be intricate, just funny. Hendrix did the best she could and pulled it off with great style. A good laugh.

I didn't really expect much from this and I was certainly not pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be absolute drivel and possibly the worst film I have ever seen. With a half decent cast, including Cary Elwes and Christopher Lloyd I thought that they may be able to lift the film out of the depths of despair. Alas, they failed.

A very silly plot, some very poor acting (what do you expect casting Billy Ray Cyrus??)and complete disregard for any of the characters certainly does make you 'wish that you WERE dead' after watching this painful experience. It would not be categorised as a comedy as its just simply not funny and far too silly to be a thriller so I am unsure what genre this would fall into. Additionally, after 45 mins, I had already counted around 20+ uses of the 'F' word which proved to be very unnecessary. Avoid!!!