Over Her Dead Body

By now, we all know the formula of a romantic comedy. The basic framework revolves around a guy meeting a girl, a love triangle, a little white lie and an event that causes them to split before the soggy finale where they kiss and make up, living happily ever after. If you go into a rom-com expecting much more or something that deviates from that path, you'll probably be disappointed. After bar setting movies like When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless In Seattle and Four Weddings and a Funeral, the constant stream of lazy efforts in recent years can cause one to be seriously jaded by the genre. So it is with this skepticism and desire to switch off my brain, that I pop Over Her Dead Body into my DVD player. It is apparent from a mere glance at the synopsis that this film will not last long in my memory, change my life or be any kind of profound filmic experience for me, but I was entertained. The script was amusing, the delivery from the four leads (Bell, Rudd, Biggs, Longoria) precise and well timed. The premise was an interesting spin on an oft used plot device.

So what's not to like? An entertaining, funny and endearing romantic comedy. At best, a competent entry into the genre, quite a way ahead of most of it's type and at worst, a movie that feels like a sitcom without a laughter track. As someone who likes sitcoms, that isn't a particularly bad thing. In a nutshell, you could do a lot worse.

Over Her Dead Body was a nice little movie, in general, that wasn't meant to be a masterpiece, but is just for enjoyment when you have nothing better to do, or are going to watch/see a so-so movie with your significant other. It was decent and entertaining, and pretty funny, and by pretty funny I mean there were some little giggles here and there.

There were a few clichés, but I don't really care about that. I found most stuff fresh. At first, I didn't think it was going to be good at all, when it started out. If you can get past the first twenty minutes though, the movie starts getting more interesting. This film wasn't burst out in laughter hilarious, like I said, and wasn't "oh my gosh" wonderful. It was just a movie that you can sit down and enjoy for how enjoyable it was meant to be.

I could understand why some may hate it and think it is very mediocre, but as the lenient movie reviewer I am, I found myself lightening up on it and just having fun, mild fun, but still, fun. There was nothing horrible enough about it to give it a 1/10, in my honest opinion, which that is what a lot of people gave it.

i wasn't a fan of seeing this movie at all, but when my gf called me and said she had a free advanced screening pass i tagged along only for the sake of seeing eva longoria and laughing at jason biggs antics.

overall it was actually better then i expected but not by much. this was like a hybrid of how to lose a guy in 10 days and just like heaven. a typical romantic comedy with its moments i guess. the movie was quite short though (around 85 min.) but it was enough to tell the whole story, build some character development and have a decent happy ending. the whole idea of a ghost haunting its former husband was a interesting plot to follow. eva did a good job of keeping up the sarcasm and paul rudd and the rest of the supporting cast (especially jason biggs) kept the laughs coming at a smooth pace.

overall i liked the movie only because it had a good amount of laughs to keep me going otherwise i would have given this movie a lower rating. hey its a chick flick and i'm reviewing this movie from a guy's persepctive alright, it would be more of a fair fight if females reviewied this movie and gave there thoughts about it.

I wasn't overly impressed by this movie, mostly because of the script. Hollywood is not very imaginative when it comes to think outside the box, thus all films follow the magic and boring formula of "a beginning, a middle and an end". And when Hollywood decides to go wild and add something else to that concept, it usually ends up spoiling the movie. They did it in this flick. I'm not about to reveal anything but it has to do with Jason Biggs character.

Still, the movie has it's moments. All ghost movies has that in common that there comes a time when a medium or similar relates what the ghost is saying to a loved one who can't see it. We saw it done better in "Ghost" with Demi More, Patrick Swayze and Whoopi Goldberg, and more recently in much funnier movie "Ghosttown", with Ricky Gervais. This movie has that scene too, but the disappointing script passes over it too quickly and with not much result for the plot.

The highlight of the movie is the acting of two leads; Paul Rudd and the surprisingly funny Lake Bell.

I've long had a growing admiration for Rudd, who has developed a style similar to that of Chevy Chase at his best. If ever a serious production of sequels to the Fletch movies gets a green light, the casting agent would do wisely in considering Rudd.

Lake Bell is rather new to me, and I was severely impressed by her comedy talent. She could easily be pictured in over-the-top comedy things and take on a female lead over Jim Carreys character in "Dumb & dumber" or Ben Stillers in "There's something about Mary". The Farrelly brothers could have a new star in her.

In conclusion, this film was watchable. "Ghosttown" is a better movie in all considerations, but Rudd and Bell are a joy.

Kate (Eva Longoria) gets iced at her wedding. This does not stop her from coming back as a ghost to squelch any new romantic interests in her almost-husband Henry (Paul Rudd.) Psychic Ashley (Lake Bell is one of the potential romantic interests. Someone is about to be squelched.

This is a standard comedy that is no better or worse than the next in the genre.

You can cut and paste any contemporary actor in the character spot and it would be the same. There is no extraordinary chemistry. There is no extraordinary insight. It is just plain fun to kibitz on saying "do not do that."