Every character serves a purpose, but none are fully developed

Rating: 5/10 (15 November 2009)

Until I sat down and actually looked at the billing on IMDb, I thought John Cusack's character name is Curtis Jackon (50 Cent? No, Its actually Jackson Curtis). While that is laughable, it is not as ridiculous as Carl Anheuser (the name of Oliver Platt's character). In my mind, I kept on thinking, "I need a beer!" and "When the hell are they gonna introduce a character named "Busch" whenever they mention his name. If the movie theater actually served alcohol, I would think this is subliminal advertising.
As ridiculous and laughable as the names are, the # of times that the main characters escape every disaster situation virtually unscathed is out right unbelievable. Its almost as if the writers were hinting, "We're not trying to make this movie real, just enjoy the eye candy as the masses succumb to every predicament nature can come up with".
At 2 hours 38 minutes, this movie is hovering the line of being uncomfortable long. But once the first disaster hits, the pacing is quite fast. I wasn't bored throughout the movie. It did come at a cost though. I didn't feel any connection with any of the characters, with maybe the exception of John Cusack's on-screen daughter. Amanda Peet, playing John's ex-wife, was stilted and lifeless. The special effects was more interesting than she was. Woody Harrelson was the scene stealer. I wouldn't say he saved this movie in terms of the acting, but without him, they could have replaced all actors with robots and I wouldn't have noticed the difference.
I can forgive the bad acting and the badly written script. After all, it is a disaster movie. It doesn't need either to draw in the audience. The idea this movie presents is enough to attract tons of movie-goers, as the $65 million weekend box office suggests. But as disaster movie goes, this is pretty low on my list.