- Rating: ★★★★ stars
- Verdict: "Over Your Dead Body" is a movie made to be seen in theaters. As you and your comrades in the cinema laugh at every absurd line or gory kill, it increases the enjoyment of the film beyond what you can replicate by streaming a movie at home.
- Where to watch: See "Over Your Dead Body" in theaters now
"Over Your Dead Body" stars an unexpected couple. Jason Segel, known for shows like "Shrinking" and films like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," isn't who jumps to mind when you think of the male lead in an unhinged, gory killfest of an action thriller. Samara Weaving, on the other hand, feels right at home. The Scream Queen star of the "Ready or Not" films knows her way around a bloody killshot.
Yet, they're a perfect pairing in this movie. Part of that is down to the fact you simply wouldn't expect these two to be married to each other, though once you learn one is a director and the other an actress, it makes more sense. But the biggest part of why they work together is that they're both funny people. And this movie is undeniably funny.
That hilarity grows exponentially in the cinema itself. From the moment the movie begins with a scene that turns out to be a commercial for a phone company, to the end, where a celebrity cameo will elicit an exclamation of laughter, you will be laughing a lot. And if you see this in theaters, you'll laugh even more.
This movie is dumb, gory fun
"Over Your Dead Body" isn't actually an original script. It's an adaptation of the Norwegian action horror comedy film, "The Trip" ("I onde dager") starring Aksel Hennie and Noomi Rapace. In that film, Aksel plays Lars, a dissatisfied director married to Lisa, a struggling actress. They go on a weekend trip to a cabin out in the wilderness ... where it turns out they've both planned to kill the other.
This adaptation doesn't deviate from that premise, which is a brilliant one. This time, the director husband is Dan (Segel), rather than Lars, while the struggling actress wife remains named Lisa (Weaving). Like their Norwegian counterparts, they too have decided it's time for the "Death do us part" phase of their marriage.
Their plans go spectacularly terrible. They do some damage to each other, and it's quite funny when Dan takes a stun gun to the chest while trying to chloroform Lisa.
There is an additional wrinkle, though. While Dan and Lisa are hashing out their relationship trauma, Dan's friend Henry (Jake Curran) arrives to help Dan dispose of the very much still alive Lisa. One thing leads to another, and he takes a shotgun shell to the chest.
If the movie ended here, with Dan and Lisa now having to figure out how to proceed after accidentally killing a man while trying to purposefully kill each other, it'd still probably work. But it turns out Dan, Lisa and even Henry aren't alone in the cabin. There's also Pete (Timothy Olyphant), Todd (Keith Jardine) and Allegra (Juliette Lewis), a pair of escaped convicts and Pete's corrections officer girlfriend.
This is where "Over Your Dead Body" really begins. Now, Dan and Lisa, who just tried to kill each other, have to fight for their lives against a pair of convicted murderers and a former prison guard plenty comfortable with killing. As the saying goes, hilarity ensues.
Verdict: 'Over Your Dead Body' is a must-see in theaters
While this movie will probably still be a blast when it eventually comes to one of the best streaming services, I implore you to see it in theaters. I'm convinced that the crowd at the Atlanta Film Festival, where I saw "Over Your Dead Body," made this movie-going experience at least 10% better.
Yes, it'd still be funny. The script is really well written, and the movie is largely well-paced. And the kills, while bigger on the silver screen, will be just as absurd and gory at home as in your local cinema.
But the energy will be different. This movie was made to be seen in theaters. It was made for people to laugh together and shout out in excitement in close quarters. A wise person once said about the cinema, "Heartbreak feels good in a place like this." Turns out, so does watching people get shot in the face.
"Over Your Dead Body" is in theaters now
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