Without Brittany Murphy, this film would probably be saccharin schmaltz. The story is kind of pedantic:
Failed child star inherits a Virginia mansion from her grandmother, a two-time Oscar winner from the late 60s, early 70s, who died from an apparent suicide before Murphy's character was born.
The plot includes some intrigues about her grandmother's secret affair with a mysterious married man.
...and she has to deal with bad feelings the townies have toward her family...and there's a lot of creaking and sneaking and lame scare tactics.
All through this lame frame work of scenes...Brittany Murphy makes a silk purse out of a sows ear. She turns water into wine. She gives so much on screen with her realistic and edgy performance. I've watched this lame movie three times already, because Brittany Murphy is mesmerizing in this. She doesn't even have to say any lines, and you get what she's trying to communicate. Everything shows in her face and body language.
Even when the killer is revealed, and the plot unravels into lame predictability...she still makes it work. I keep watching because I'm amazed that she makes this script sound organic, as though they weren't lines from a Lifetime Original Movie. She delivers as though she's actually thinking and feeling what is written on the page. I'm totally blown away...by Brittany Murphy...not by the film its self.
Failed child star inherits a Virginia mansion from her grandmother, a two-time Oscar winner from the late 60s, early 70s, who died from an apparent suicide before Murphy's character was born.
The plot includes some intrigues about her grandmother's secret affair with a mysterious married man.
...and she has to deal with bad feelings the townies have toward her family...and there's a lot of creaking and sneaking and lame scare tactics.
All through this lame frame work of scenes...Brittany Murphy makes a silk purse out of a sows ear. She turns water into wine. She gives so much on screen with her realistic and edgy performance. I've watched this lame movie three times already, because Brittany Murphy is mesmerizing in this. She doesn't even have to say any lines, and you get what she's trying to communicate. Everything shows in her face and body language.
Even when the killer is revealed, and the plot unravels into lame predictability...she still makes it work. I keep watching because I'm amazed that she makes this script sound organic, as though they weren't lines from a Lifetime Original Movie. She delivers as though she's actually thinking and feeling what is written on the page. I'm totally blown away...by Brittany Murphy...not by the film its self.