Movie Review: Over Her Dead Body
Eva Longoria Stars With Paul Rudd in an Unremarkable Romantic Comedy
Eva Longoria-Parker stars as a woman haunting the new girlfriend of her fiance from beyond the grave. Jeff Lowell writes and directs.
The magic and beauty that is the commercial holiday of Valentine’s Day always brings with it mainstream romantic comedies. “Over Her Dead Body” is a relatively average entry into the genre that can be given kudos for taking risks, but has a tendency to fall flat on its face more often than not.
Remember "Ghost" and "Just Like Heaven"?
Type-A personality Kate (Eva Longoria-Parker) is trying to throw the perfect wedding to her veterinarian fiancé Henry (Paul Rudd). When crushed by a wingless ice-angel, Kate prematurely expires from this mortal coil.
A year later, Henry’s sister Chloe (Lindsay Sloane) enlists the help of psychic Ashley (Lake Bell) to help get Henry out of his depression. As Ashley makes an effort to help Henry find closure with his late fiancé, she finds an inconvenient spark in their relationship. Kate, unwilling to let go of Henry even beyond the grave, decides to make life difficult for Ashley as she tries to find love outside of her relationship with her gay best friend (Jason Biggs).
Some Minor Amusements Don't Overcome a Weak Formulaic Script
Veteran television writer Jeff Lowell has crafted a formulaic rom-com with a tired premise. There is very little new to add to the “ghost-lover-who-needs-to-let-go” genre, and Lowell drives that point home here. On the upside, there are some minor amusements involving overweight pets, cats with itchy bums, and the idea of the perfectly made up L’Oreal Longoria making farting noises. Also, the efforts to establish the relationship between Henry and Ashley’s characters is decent, and occasionally fresh. However, for every decent moment in this budding relationship there is another thinly written character (Longoria-Parker), and a subplot that takes a bad misstep (A revelation involving Jason Biggs).
Jeff Lowell Shows More Strength Behind the Camera
Jeff Lowell does a fair job behind the camera. He has an eye for comedy, and had the good sense to let Rudd improvise some material, but the weak script does little to flatter this. It would be worthwhile to see what he could do with a slightly more polished screenplay.
Lake Bell is the Real Star of this Movie
Eva Longoria-Parker doesn’t step very far outside of her abilities in this role. She delivers her dialogue without any comic timing or any emotional depth. Luckily she isn’t on screen very often, and little is expected of her when she is. Paul Rudd is typically charming and amusing. He makes the typical “male love interest” slightly more interesting and nuanced. His relationship with Lake Bell is believable, but they have little romantic chemistry, seeming more like drinking buddies. Bell is a great lead to this film. She brings life to the material, and is a pleasure to watch throughout the film. She struggles a bit with comedic timing and facial expressions, but has the potential to be stronger with some mirror time.
Another Movie to Watch on the Airplane
“Over Her Dead Body” doesn’t offer anything new to the genre, but is cute enough to entertain the audience this sort of film will attract. This is essentially the kind of movie seen on airplanes and forgotten ten minutes later. Not awful, but not particularly memorable either, unlike "Fool's Gold", which was arguably awful.
