Glass House deserves rocks thrown
by Barry Johnson, reporter

    Save your money.

    You will have a better time reading this article than going to see The Glass House.

    When you went to see The Glass House, you wanted suspense and mystery, but instead you got disappointment and discouragement.

    The only suspense you felt was wondering if you could make it to the theater in time.

    Leelee Sobieski, better known for her role as Elijah Wood’s girlfriend in Deep Impact, plays Ruby Baker, the socially driven teenage daughter of Dave and Grace Baker.

    After a tragic car crash takes the lives of her parents, Ruby and her younger brother Rhett (Trevor Morgan) are taken in by their parents’ best friends, Terry and Erin Glass (Stellan Skarsgard and Diane Lane).

    Erin Glass is a doctor and a junkie while Terry Glass owns a glass company.

    His character comes off as a bit of a pedophile.

    The Glasses’ house is a mysterious, yet artistic mansion made mostly of glass, and it sits isolated on a hill along the coastline.

    While living there, Ruby suspects something is wrong with the Glasses; meanwhile, the Glasses are trying to spoil her brother Rhett with gifts, so he won’t give in to his older sister’s suspicions.

    Ruby hates living there, and while she and her brother Rhett have plenty of opportunities to move on, they don’t try hard enough.

    They never do the normal things most people would do if they wanted to get away.

    We never see any urgency in their fear.

    They never decide to pick up the phone and call their friends for help. The one person they do call is the Glasses’ lawyer (Bruce Dern), who ends up being no help at all.

    To no one’s surprise, he backstabs Ruby, and her actions are considered rebellious.

    She must defend herself and her younger brother Rhett from the Glasses’ foul play, which is a poor attempt to gain the children’s inheritance money.

    What this film needs is more diversity. Viewers know what every character is going to do and when they’re going to do it.

    The audience is always more than one step ahead of the film’s storyline. Just as the plot seems to thicken, it starts to fizzle out.

    Plus, the villains don’t seem as menacing as they should be. The characters who are most feared in the film are the ones who could be left out and no one would notice.

    As well, the ending is very cliché.

    This story is far too watered down with bland foreshadowing and dialogue.

    Viewers sit there forever waiting for something to happen. Then the credits roll, and that is the biggest relief of the film.

    The film sticks to a straight and narrow path right into the ground.

    Those who have seen the commercial have seen the movie. The trailer gives away every major point in the preview, leaving nothing to the imagination.

    Those who want to see a movie about kids trapped in a house should rent Flowers In The Attic.