Movie Review - 'One Missed Call'

One Missed Call

Starring Shannyn Sossamon and Edward Burns
Directed by Eric Valette
Rated PG-13

Almost unequaled in its amount of unintentional laughter by any film in recent years, One Missed Call sets the bar high (or is that low?) for contenders to the title of worst movie of 2008.

That's usually the case in January; there's always at least one movie that is so unpolished and/or stupid that you can almost see the studio dropping it off at the steps of the orphanage and running away into the night. This film tries unsuccessfully to place under a heat lamp the formula used by The Ring several years. Like that great thriller, One Missed Call is a remake of a Japanese horror flick. Like The Ring, this has a circuitous supernatural mystery that somehow involves people knowing when they're going to die.

Oh, to hell with it: One Missed Call is a threadbare knock-off of The Ring. It has no original ideas, no original perspective, and is instead full of time-honored horror movie staples that generate more guffaws and groans than gasps.

It works like this: As someone in this weird chain of events dies, their cell phone calls someone in their contact list. That person gets a voicemail time stamped with the date and time of their pending death as well as the haunting message itself, featuring the new target's famous last words.

There was a time when I thought Shannyn Sossamon might have developed into a quirky leading lady of sorts, but her career never matched her natural beauty and ease on screen. I wouldn't say she's a great actress, but she's competent and slightly unusual, which should have led here anywhere but here.

On the other hand, the devil has finally cashed in on his deal with Edward Burns. This is the sort of thing he needs to make more of in the future, if simply because it matches his leaden abilities. Many actors can get by playing the same character over and over again. Burns doesn't even develop full characters.

Here it fits, since this could never be confused for a full movie.