When the Bough Breaks

«Don't judge a book by its cover», but you may judge this film by its cover. A woman (surrogate) intends to split a wealthy successful couple. That's the cover, and also the entire storyline. Sounds booring? I agree, you've seen it all before, and getting inspiration from fatal attraction doesn't help either.

There is some decent talent involved. The premise for the story intrigued and sounded quite good, regardless of its lack of originality. The cover gave the sense it would be fairly suspenseful and interesting. 'When the Bough Breaks' was definitely not a film that sounded like it was going to be a disaster hearing about it.

It as a film is still not that much of a disaster too, there are merits here. The decent potential shown initially is sadly not sustained and generally not lived up to, so sadly 'When the Bough Breaks' is not a particularly good film either. As indicated just now, there was no initial bias against it or wanting to dislike it at all. Far from the truth, actually thought it had potential to be an unexceptional but not too bad film. It was a real shame it wasn't that, but it could have been so much worse.

'When the Bough Breaks' does have good elements. The acting from Regina Hall, Michael K. Williams and Morris Chestnut is better than average, Chestnut actually being quite good and suitably intensely brooding. Definitely the best thing about the film. The production values are not too cheap and the music is ominous without being too intrusive or obvious.

First impressions were a promising start that did intrigue and had some slow-burning suspense.

Sadly, that slow-burning suspense was far from sustained all the way through. 'When the Bough Breaks' generally lacks tension, danger and suspense, hurt by that it treads familiar ground so often that any surprises or anything new cannot be seen. The characters fail to be interesting and don't have much to make one endear to them, it was purposeful for some but don't think that was intent for all of them to be so. The direction does well with the visuals but in terms of the storytelling it fails, being pedestrian in a lot of the first half and then losing control in the second. It gets melodramatic in places and should have been much bolder, for a film with this concept it was rather tame.

Promising beginning aside, the first half is on the dull side. As said by others while the second half does pick up things start getting silly, rushed and implausible, some of it making one feel stupid, culminating in an ending that ends too suddenly and almost unfinished-like. The dialogue is cheesy and very difficult to take seriously, also not flowing naturally. Jaz Sinclair seemed out of her element and doesn't have the chops to carry the lead role and the film, while Theo Rossi is awful, no engagement whatsoever.

Concluding, not terrible but also not good. 4/10 Bethany Cox

I find films like 'When the Bough Breaks' very frustrating, because they have no chance of living up to their full potential even before the opening credits have rolled. The reason is that their hands are so severely tied behind their back in terms of what they are able to show and portray. There were times in this movie where I was actually surprised how far they went in terms of some graphic violence, yet on other occasions they seemed incredibly limited as to what they could show. The latter was certainly the more predominant case in the film. I can't help but think while I watch films like this that life is too short. Who really wants their films this toned down? Surely no children are out there watching a film about a topic like this. So are there adults out there craving PC, bland nonsense? If so, good on them for catering to those needs. But you'd better expect the rest of us to hate your films.

The other big problem with the film is just how "Been there, done that" it all feels. There isn't a single shred of originality in this film. Not even one moment that could possibly be in the least bit considered an original idea. The amateur nature with which this film was made was nothing short of shocking.

There aren't a lot of good aspects to mention, but if I had to point some out they would be a decent scare near the end that actually worked quite well, and a final 10 minutes or so that weren't actually half bad (although that could have just been because I was comparing them to the 90 minutes that had proceeded them). At the end of the day though my advice would be to not see this film. Everyone who gives their hard earned money to films like this is simply encouraging more films like this to be made. And that would be a very bad thing.

Robbie K here, and I'm back with yet another review on the latest blockbuster to storm the theaters. This review we are going to focus on another thriller, one that is promoted to be full of drama, suspense, and scandalous affairs. Yes, I'm talking about When the Bough Breaks! While certainly looking cliché in the trailers, we never know what the final product will be. So let's get cracking shall we?

LIKES: • Good Acting • Pace moves quickly while keeping drama • Delivers what is promised

As we often see in the Drama genre, a majority of our cast falls into the overacting territory, turning our characters into blubbery, quivering, overemotional messes that have you rolling your eyes. Surprisingly, most of our cast manages to avoid this scenario and keeps their emotions in check and somewhat relatable. Morris Chestnut was my favorite of the bunch, developing a character that was respectable, believable, and one worth rooting for. He was suave and sophisticated, willing to do whatever it took to protect his family without becoming a rebel without a cause. Regina Hall, an actress who wears many hats, did a nice job in the supporting role of the hardworking wife. While certainly not the greatest role, she worked well with her limited screen time and reacted well to her fellow actors. Of course the other show stealer is Jaz Sinclair who seems to have the psychotic jealousy embedded in her DNA. Sinclair seemed to play two characters in this role. On the one side she plays a seductive, manipulative, and an evil mastermind capable of crafting schemes. The other side an obsessive, emotional, and somewhat horny minx whose sole purpose is to make love. She does both personalities justice and mixes well with her fellow cast members.

In regards to the actual story, well the movie delivers exactly what you expected from the trailers. It is a straight forward story about a couple learning the harsh lesson of showing caution when hiring surrogates and how they deal with the nut job carrying their baby. The drama is intense and the suspense is drawn out, but much of the audience in my showing relished every minute of it. The pace of the movie is fast (which I like) and provided an atmosphere of urgency that increased the suspense, thereby keeping my attention. An added bonus of this pace, was that it kept the emotional drama in perspective, which made for an a better plot.

DISLIKES • Nothing really original • Predictable on so many levels • The Wife had a limited role • So many idiotic moments • Still overdramatic at times

Originality is hard to come by in this day and age, but this film certainly made no attempt to inject uniqueness into the genome. When the Bough Breaks follows the same formula that so many television Horror/Dramas employ from the very linear dialogue to the seductive moves our nut jobs like to perform. The bottom line of all of this..is that this movie is certainly predictable and took some of the edge way…at least for me.

What also was a downer to me was how little the wife played in this movie, despite what the trailers promised. Rather than helping uncover the deception at hand, she pretty much only acted as a morale counterbalance and a means for Anna's character to go nuts. In addition, despite all the money, connections, technology, and smarts our heroes had…they were surprisingly stupid at times. I understand the reasoning is that she had their baby hostage inside her stomach, but certainly after the first attempt to break up the family they would have invested in some cameras or equipment to catch her in the act. The stupidity also extended into the "exciting" climaxes where both parties made mistakes that resulted in further injury. Sure we all have our idiotic moments, but in the span of nine months with a lunatic, surely they could have learned some lessons. But if logic took precedence, then that ever addicting drama would be diluted right? Despite the decent balance of drama, there are still moments where things still turn to the melodramatic. Most of these moments do involve the crazier side of Jaz, mostly in the form of temper tantrums, or hypersexual moments that were cheesy and missing steam. Oh well, what else would you expect in a drama.

The VERDICT

Again, you get exactly what the trailers promised in terms of this movie. It is a drama with lots of stereotypical ploys brought to life by a talented cast of actors and actresses. Unfortunately, it still uses the bag of tricks we have come to know and lacks much originality to warrant this film a big screen visit. It's not that I didn't enjoy parts of this movie, I just think its place was more justified on Lifetime amidst their usual scandalous films. Nevertheless, the recommended audiences are fans of lifetime movies and those looking for a low key "horror" movie that won't disturb your sleep cycle. Otherwise, skip this flick for the weekend and catch the other movies coming in the next few weeks.

Drama/Horror/Mystery: 7.0 Movie Overall: 5.5

This movie is, I believe, a remake of "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" from 1992. At least, a similar set of elements comes up in both movies, this time with a black cast rather than white. One way or another, it was a good movie, full of suspenseful points, and the acting was good. I liked it.

John and Laura Taylor cannot conceive a child, despite having made all efforts, and have resorted to hiring a surrogate mother, who is sweet (and seriously cute) and generally easy to like and love, a girl named Anna Walsh. But Anna isn't all she seems to be, living an unstable life and hiding her own deep and dark secrets as she develops inappropriate feelings for John, and her obsession with him turns dangerous and violent. What happens next? Buy a ticket and see the movie. LOL

PH