RETRO REVIEW: CASE 39

CASE 39
Paramount Vantage
2009 Color
109 Mins.
Horror/Thriller
Renee Zellwegger, Bradley Cooper, Jodelle Ferland and Ian McShane star.
Written by Ray Wright
Directed by Christian Alvart
Rated R for language, violence and adult themes.

Unjustly dumped to a limited release. Case 39 had a troubled journey to theaters. Christian Alvart the director of Antibodies was making his American cinema debut and would go on to direct better more cohesive films like Pandorum. The latest foray into the scary kid subgenre at the time is a mixed bag at best. It centers on an overworked social worker played by Renee Zellwegger who comes upon a case she can't turn down. It seems that a young girl thinks her parents want to murder her.

 Of course as the story evolves we begin to see the reason why. Throw in some supernatural hub bub here and there you have the makings of this film. The positives are of course the performances, solid turns from Zellwegger even though her character is underwritten, Sexy Bradley Cooper as a pining child psychologist and Ian McShane as her detective friend. Some nice cinematography and a lot of imagination and the willingness to tackle some dark material. The bad, the movie feels confused and only half committed at times. when it should be delving deeper it seems to draw back in favor of generic thrills, silly chase scenes and clichéd one liners. It all culminates in a surprisingly lame fashion. Still there's enough here to merit a light recommendation. It's not a great film by any means but it's entertaining and far better than the likes of Sinister and so many other insipid genre travesties.
***/5