Weepy-Eyed Schtick

Rating: 3/10 (23 November 2009)

I had such high hopes for this movie.... it was THE MOST ANTICIPATED MOVIE on my list to see. (Dramatic drum roll please....) And then I went to see it. Oh boy, ... cough,... sputter, I'm getting nauseated. A star studded cast with John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Woody Harrleson, Danny Glover, Oliver Platt, etc. gave this film such high hopes. But did somebody forget to hire a screenwriter for this? Because this film had some of the worst drivel and cliché driven schtick I have ever seen. I was beginning to wonder if it was a David Zucker spoof on Disaster Films. The film starts off well, building plot and intrigue. Characters are nicely introduced. Pending doom and foreshadowing are not overdone - yet. And then Woody Harrleson is introduced. That's when the film begins to seriously unravel. The over-the-top comic lunatic that Woody plays turns a potential disaster into a laugh fest. Then all hell breaks loose. Catastrophic earthquakes, explosions, monumental volcanic eruptions, cities sinking into the sea all come flying at us at 300 mph! Pray tell, how in the world does John Cusack and company manage to barely miss every single devastating earth swallowing fault crack, buckling highway collapse, airplane disaster, noxious volcanic plume, and near death drowning? On top of that, we are deluged by pathetic weepy emotional dialogue from all the key players. Danny Glover is the worst violator of sappy monologues. The only tears I shed were tears of excruciating pain over watching this drivel. The only basis for not submarining my ratings on this film were the terrific special effects and CGI. Well done. Lastly, the screenwriter cements the film for utter doom with the final two lines spoken by two main characters. Absolute stupidity. Guess there wasn't anything else to say. Don't waste your money on this film - unless you get to see it at the $2 movie theatre or have a devotional love for special effects.