She has a good ear for how to talk to a mentally ill child, keeping everything on an even plane, speaking quietly and calmly, but not condescendingly. She seems comfortable in a thoroughly surreal environment. The fact that she s wearing a low-cut wedding dress in a conversation with a small boy seems trivial. He has a clear idea of how to delineate evil and innocence. What he doesn t know how to do is bring all the images together to mean something beyond the ability to terrorize.
Spectacle only does so much.
The answer, because it has to be delivered as an actual plot point, rather than as another excuse for the production design team to go off on a bender, is maddening - maddeningly trite. Jennifer Lopez deserves style points just for having the guts to make this movie, particularly as her breakthrough. The director doesn t need style points - he already has more style in this movie than in an entire season s worth of Vogue. And about as much content.