Movie Review: Over Her Dead Body

Ever since mainstream audiences were introduced to Paul Rudd in the 1995 rom-com hit, Clueless, fans of the actor's dry whit and comedic charm have been waiting for Rudd to get his chance at a leading role; however Over Her Dead Body is not the film they've been waiting for. Even though Rudd gets his chance to be the romantic lead, this supernatural chick flick is nearly dead on arrival thanks to a concept that feels far too familiar.

After spending a year mourning his late fiancée, Kate (Eva Longoria Parker), Henry's sister (Lindsay Sloane) decides that it is time for her brother to move on. She brings Henry (Paul Rudd) to a psychic in hopes that the spirit of Kate will tell him to go and find happiness. Much to Henry's surprise, this psychic is far from the archetype clairvoyant. Ashley (Lake Bell), a fiery and attractive red head, quickly falls for Henry, leading to a relationship that literally wakes the dead. Kate's vengeful ghost appears to Ashley and vows to do whatever she can to prevent her still living fiancée from finding happiness with the mind reader.

Director Jeff Lowell seems to have an affinity for plots involving strong central female characters. Interestingly enough the filmmaker has Rudd and Bell switch traditional romantic comedy gender roles for the first two acts of the film. Ashley spends most of her time trying to woo the sullen and emotional Henry, while simultaneously trying to deal with Kate's pesky ghost. For the most part the clever supernatural concept works well within its genre conventions, in fact it would have been a breathe of fresh air had the Reese Witherspoon vehicle, Just Like Heaven, not already beaten it to the punch.

While the ghost in Over Her Dead Body thankfully remains dead throughout the duration of the film, its eerie similarity to the aforementioned movie hinders many of its gags, rendering them predictable. In fact the only truly clever bit in the film is its twist on the mandatory "running through an airport finale", in which Paul Rudd communicates with Kate through a parakeet.

That is not to say that Over Her Dead Body is light on laughs, because its not. While the presence of television stars Eva Longoria Parker and Lake Bell give the picture a slightly made for TV feel, both actresses aptly prove that they can handle headlining feature roles, even with sub par material. American Pie star Jason Biggs presence is immediately welcomed, but equally scorned when his character announces a bizarre revelation midway through the picture.

Of course what keeps this sinking ship afloat is the talented Paul Rudd. Making his dialogue fresh and real, the one truly great decision Jeff Lowell made was letting the actor improvise with his trademark humor. Rudd is single-handedly responsible for the picture's biggest laughs.

Though the production values are sharp, Lowell's music selection is aggravatingly bad. In fact the use of covers like "I Can See Clearly Now" or tracks such as "Move Along" by The All American Rejects comes off like nails on a chalkboard. Clearly the production's budget went to luring the big name TV stars, leaving musical cues as an afterthought.

Even with its paranormal twist on Romantic Comedies, Jeff Lowell can't maintain interest over the picture's relatively short running time. Like most chick flicks, Over Her Dead Body is very bottom heavy, with the light pace of the film slowing down to prepare the characters and audience for the expected conclusion. It doesn't help that the final moment's of the film does nothing to rectify this, cheating a principle character out of their happiness in favor of one last cheap gag that leaves an awful taste in audiences' mouths.

New Line's timely Valentines release of the project should help boost the box office take of Over Her Dead Body. The attraction of the female stars and its cleverly presented concept should draw interest from the female sect; while Paul Rudd's wonderful presence makes this weak romancer tolerable for the males that just couldn't say no Over Her Dead Body.

-Joe Russo (www.MoviePulse.net)