Review: Case 39

Its odd to think that at one time Renee Zelwegger was a hot commodity in the acting world and that she has three Oscar Nominations and one win to her name. Although in recent years her star has fallen somewhat last year we had the dire New in Town and this year finally sees the release of Case 39 a film that alledgelly has been sitting on the shelf for about three years before finally being released. Even though this is a supernatural horror type thing the part of the plot I had to suspend the most disbelief over was buying Zelwegger as a childcare worker, as I know quite a lot of people who work in this field her methods were somewhat questionable. The main gist of the plot is that Zelwegger's character saves a little girl from her abusive parents who are about to put her in the oven when she and good friend Ian McShane burst in and save the day. Zelwegger then breaks protocol to take the little girl in and guess what? The little girl may not be that innocent after all and when things start happening to Zelwegger's friends she has to take matters into her own hands.

On one hand Case 39 is absolutely dreadful. Although Jodelle Ferland who plays the creepy Lillith gives an accomplished performance for someone so young, the adult cast don't match her performance. Zelwegger's performance is at times dull and other points completely over-the-top and you just have to wonder what happened to the actress who dazzled in Cold Mountain and Bridget Jones. She is backed up by mainly Brisith actors doing okay-ish American accents namely the gruff tough cop Ian McShane and Hustle's Adrian Lester as Zelwegger's boss. Also on hand is Bradley Cooper who is incredibly wet as Zelwegger's love interest who, as you may guess, meets a sticky end. The story has gaping plot holes and is predicatble from the first time we see Lilith and her parents. But at the same time you can't help but get caught up in the film ridicoulosness it is almost a dodgy parody of films like Children of the Corn, The Omen and most notably Candyman, as there is a scene with some questionable CGI bees which is possibly one of my favourite scenes.

Overall a complete mess, but one which is easily mockable and probably good for DVD night fun.