Rarely has there been a film that so effectively and immediately hooks you in with tension, humor, and a strong premise only to gradually lose its way before combusting into near ruin by the time its final credits roll.
Based on the Norwegian film The Trip from director and co-writer Tommy Wirkola, Over Your Dead Body stars Jason Segel and Samara Weaving as Dan and Lisa, a miserable married couple who retreat to a remote cabin, seemingly for a romantic getaway. In actuality, Dan and Lisa each have secret plans to murder one another. Their carefully plotted plans are uprooted, however, when a dangerous crew of escaped prisoners crash their weekend retreat, forcing Dan and Lisa to become unexpected allies.
The film from director Jorma Taccone (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Macgruber) begins in a manner far more compelling than the average movie. The Lonely Island member introduces audiences to an utterly miserable man, dismayed at his job as a commercial director and expressing apathy toward everything in life. The one exception to this apathy is an unusual determination to let others know of the details of an upcoming romantic getaway with his wife. As he circulates information about his wife’s desire to go on a long hike by herself during the trip, it very quickly becomes clear that Dan wishes to establish an iron-clad alibi for himself so that he can get away with murdering his wife.
The first act of Over Your Dead Body deftly carries tension and humor in equal measure as Dan’s grand plan for uxoricide begins to unfold. Jason Segel impresses as a man completely fled up with his marriage, yet determined to put on a happy face and appear unassuming in the days leading up to his planned crime. There’s plenty of humor and tension to delight in from watching Segel’s Dan attempt (and fail) to suppress his hatred for Weaving’s Lisa.
Segel and Weaving share incredible on-screen chemistry, bringing a couple who truly detest one another to life with tremendous comedic success. The film proves most engaging in following the two trade verbal blows and actualize their plots to kill one another. This first act makes for such entertaining viewing that it’s difficult to see where or how things can go awry as a sturdy foundation for tense dark comedy has been firmly established.
Unfortunately, things do indeed go awry when Over Your Dead Body bafflingly pivots away from its most interesting element (i.e., the domestic conflict between Segel and Weaving) and toward a trio of new characters. Timothy Olyphant and Keith Jardine play convicts who have managed to escape prison with the help of a corrupt correctional officer played by Juliette Lewis. The three runaways happen to find refuge in the cabin Dan and Lisa are staying at and, after a period of avoiding the couple, are eventually forced to confront them.
With the addition of Olyphant, Jardine, and Lewis, Over Your Dead Body evolves into a different movie – one decidedly less interesting and novel. Segel and Weaving’s enthralling squabbling fades into the periphery, to such an extent that the two feel like supporting characters for the bulk of the second act. In their place are a trio of over-the-top criminals, whose entry into the story transforms the film into a run-of-the-mill hostage movie.
As the story progresses, Taccone’s film transcends misguided to become a rather grating viewing experience. While there is some unexpectedly gnarly violence that bloodthirsty moviegoers will have fun with, the movie derails with a host of illogical character decisions and far too many fake out resolutions. On far too many occasions, it appears that Dan and Lisa have finally freed themselves from the clutches of the criminals before they are suddenly pulled back into the heart of the danger. This structure quickly becomes repetitive and makes Over Your Dead Body feel like an excruciatingly laborious film that refuses to end.
Perhaps most egregious of Over Your Dead Body is the spectacular squandering of the element that made it so compelling in the first place. After shelving the domestic conflict between Dan and Lisa for much of the film, the story culminates in a resolution that is as unearned as it is unrealistic. Any attempts to tug at the heartstrings in showing a couple recover from almost killing one another fall painfully flat as, after such a stark pivot away from Dan and Lisa, the film doesn’t do enough to earn our care and investment in their relationship.
When the overly long 105-minute runtime finally lapses, one is left to reckon how a film that begins so strongly finds a way to entirely deprive itself of anything even remotely interesting by the time the credits roll.
VERDICT: 4.5/10
Seldom does a movie compel so strongly initially before completely falling apart in a manner so spectacular as Over Your Dead Body. The film from director Jorma Taccone proves most engaging in a first act that deftly blends humor and tension. Jason Segel and Samara Weaving share electric chemistry as an utterly miserable couple who have each devised separate plans to kill one another during a weekend getaway. Their ever-escalating verbal conflicts, which eventually spill over into physical ones, make for enthralling entertainment. This all changes, however, when the introduction of a trio of new characters transforms the movie into a generic hostage film.
The narrative pivot takes the focus away from Segel and Weaving, who fade into the periphery in the second half, in favor of uninteresting and over-the-top criminals. Particularly bloodthirsty moviegoers may delight in how depths of gnarliness the film is willing to go to with its violence, but any investment in the subjects of this carnage dissipates with a host of illogical character decisions and far too many fake out conclusions. Most egregious is the film’s squandering of the key element that made it so interesting in the first place – the relationship between Segel and Weaving’s characters. The film converges on an entirely unearned and unrealistic conclusion after the overly long 105-minute runtime finally lapses. There’s a great movie buried somewhere within Over Your Dead Body. Unfortunately, it never comes to life in the way its impressive first act would suggest.
