Wish You Were Dead

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.

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!!!

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.

Contrary to the idea of most others who have viewed this film, I found it to be absolutely hilarious. It is my belief, however, that this movie had one single problem with it that made it unappealing to the majority of movie-goers. The problem? THIS MOVIE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A PLAY. If this script would have been presented to an audience from a stage, it would have been much more accepted. Cary Elwes' acting is fantastic in this movie, but he is not acting for a movie, he is acting for a play. The character he is playing (Mac) is an easily conceivable character. The way that Elwes chooses to portray him, however, is not meant for the big screen. Coming from someone who has spent plenty of time in competitive drama, this movie should have been a play. It would have been absolutely perfect on the stage.

I suggest that anyone who watches this film looks at it from a non-traditional viewpoint. Imagine that you are watching a play, and the brilliant comedy in this movie will present itself to you.

Seven out of ten. This movie would have gotten a higher rating, but, as previously stated, the story and the characters were out of place on the big screen.