The Glass House (2001)

This is How Movies Should Be Made

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Tries its best to be a Domestic Thriller and the Good Cast does Elevate the Standard Proceedings. Leelee Sobieski, Stellan Skarsgard, and Diane Lane take the Trashy Script and run with it.Director Sackheim made His Name on TV (X-Files, etc.) and this one has that Feel. Not Helped by the Wimpy PG-13 Rating, it all has to be, You know, in the Mind, kind of thing. That's OK in a Psychological Thriller but it has to be Well Written and Sharp. This one isn't.It does have Enough Entertaining Elements to be Worth a Watch. Most Teen Boys, Love to Watch Leelee and here Her Acting Chops are Enhanced by the Choice Wardrobe and Overall Odd Beauty She brings to all Her Work. She's a Better than Average Looker and can Play Edge and Smart Very Well.Slightly Above Average with a Good Budget to make it all Viewable in a Slick, Glossy way. Not Much New in the way it goes about its Lurid Business. But at least its Lurid and Trashy. But only as Lurid and Trashy as PG-13 will Permit.

The plot: After her parents die in a sudden car accident, a teenage girl becomes suspect her new guardians have sinister motives.This movie is obviously meant for teenagers. The girls can identify with the protagonist, while the boys can ogle the her, as she has several exploitative scenes. It's a bit of a clichéd, predictable thriller, but I doubt that teens will be very critical of it.Most of the movie is a cat-and-mouse game between the protagonist and her guardians. Throughout the movie, all the adult authority figures are shown to be useless. It's a cheesy tactic used in most teen thrillers so that the teen protagonists actually have something to do besides wait for an adult to save them. For adults, it often ends up seeming a bit forced and difficult to believe.Several of the characters are introduced and never appear again, like they were completely forgotten. It makes you wonder why they were even introduced. Most perplexing is the uncle, who I would have thought would have custody of his niece and nephew -- but, no, the parents decided to give custody to their next door neighbors! Bizarre. And, when things start to get weird with the next door neighbors, not a single person suggests living with the uncle. It's like everyone forgot that there's even any relatives still alive.If you're a kid, this movie probably works a lot better. You'll focus on the horror of losing your parents, living with creepy people that you barely know, and moving to a new city. Adults, however, will probably just be bored.

Our friend Donna had bought this as a used DVD and we watched it last night. The title has two meanings. After the two kids lost their parents in a car wreck their old neighbors, the Glass family, took them in so they lived in the "Glass" house. But the house also has lots of glass in it, so you can often see people in different rooms, and this plays into the story also.Leelee Sobieski was probably 17 during filming and plays 16-year-old Ruby Baker. Diane Lane is Erin Glass who in effect becomes her stepmother. Stellan Skarsgård is Terry Glass. Trevor Morgan is Ruby's kid brother Rhett Baker .As the two youngsters begin their new lives with the Glasses, in a fancy house on a small bluff above the ocean, things don't appear 'right' from the very beginning. It soon is very clear that the Glasses have some sort of sinister agenda. How Ruby and her brother cope with this is the movie.It was just 'OK' for us, we certainly would not see it again. It is filled with first-rate actors, so fault must go to the script and direction.SPOILERS: To cut to the chase as they say, the kids' parents were thrifty and had an approximate $4 Million estate, the Glasses were in a big bind and needed that money. Terry Glass had 'loaned' the parents a car that fateful night and we conclude that the car was rigged to crash and kill them so that the Glasses could get custody and, ultimately the $4 Million for their own use. Ruby is wise beyond her years and eventually gets the upper hand, Erin dies from her own drug overdose, Ruby ends up running over Terry after a car chase on the Pacific Coast Highway.

I couldn't get into this one. The chief reason being the wooden acting done by Leelee Sobieski.I couldn't get to like the expression on her (or expressionless) face and her low mumbling voice. You need to put in at least some character into the part you're playing, but this is high school stage play level of acting. I couldn't feel any life out of her at all. I have other things I'd like to say about her but I wouldn't get into it.With the star so out of it, the story had no chance of survival, and the supporting actor's weren't anything to mention about either. In fact I hated them.Production people of this movie must have been morons, to put together such a lifeless dud.