20140429: Comedy Review--Odd Thomas

Odd Thomas

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 100 minutes, comedy, mystery, horror.
2. IMDB: 6.8/10.0 from 14,282 audience ratings. Estimated budget, 27 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 35% on the meter; 65% liked it from 4,490 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 4.0/5.0 from 26,740 audience ratings.
5. Written, produced, and directed by: Stephen Sommers.
6. Starring: Anton Yelchin as Odd Thomas, Addison Timlin as Stormy Llewellyn, Willem Dafoe as Chief Wyatt Porter, Gugu Mbatha Raw as Viola Peabody.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Odd Thomas is a psychic who sees dead people and can find people whom he needs to find.  Stormy is the perfect girl friend for him. 


2. Thomas also sees details of murders that were, and murders that will be.  He has a trust relationship with the Chief.  He helps the Chief solve cases; the Chief helps him avoid courts and awkward questions.


3. Odd and Viola share a terrible dream/nightmare about a massacre to come.  Odd, Stormy, the Chief, and Viola try to figure out how to minimize the damage of this horrible problem to come.


4. If Odd accomplishes this one large goal, what sort of price will he have to pay?


3. Conclusions
1. Based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz.
2. One line summary: Young adult clairvoyant tries to minimize damage to his town from supernatural evil.
3. Four stars of five


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Beautifully shot.


2. Sound: 8/10 No particular problems.


3. Acting: 10/10 Anton Yelchin, Addison Timlin, and Willem Dafoe were excellent.  The onscreen chemistry between Yelchin and Timlin was wonderful, and Dafoe was brilliant with the two of them.  These three dominate the movie, but the other players were good as well.


4. Screenplay: 7/10  The voice-over soon got to be too much.  Based not on the book, I would say that the story hung together well, and generally moved forward.  The ending was sweet and poignant in a young adult setting, and begged for a sequel.