Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: OVER YOUR DEAD BODY [SXSW Film - Austin, Texas]
The aspect of a "War Of The Roses" ideal was explored last year in "The Roses" with interesting results mainly due to the cast there. With "Over Your Dead Body" [Headliner] which is itself a remake of a Scandinavian film called "The Trip" by Tommy Wirkola (who was going to originally direct the English language version). Eventually Jorma Taccone who did "Pop Star" and "MacGruber" and co-wrote "Brigsby Bear", "Palm Royale" and "Hot Rod" among others came in. The details of why are not clear presently. What resulted is a interestingly cast, balls-to-the=wall horror comedy but made independently with a set feel yet a slightly uneven keel. While IFC is distributing in the US, the movie was made by XYZ Films which has always had great acquisition titles for every festival I have been to. This one is no different but in making this, Taccone does skirt the edge of what mainstream audiences might be cool with seeing, especially from a star like Jason Segel who here plays a down-on-his-luck director who heads up to his dad's cabin in upstate NY for a weekend with his wife which is exactly what it seems (even too much so). Samara Weaving (also seen in "Ready Or Not 2" at the festival this year) plays his wife. Both Segel and Weaving sent video intros to the premiere audience. Segel seemed like he was shooting something (he was in a play diner) while Weaving -- with her trademark humor -- said she was very pregnant and could not travel. Congrats because she has been working nonstop. This film was shot in Finland in 2024 so it has been held for a little bit. Segel always has been good at the playing the awkward and, of course, there is a meta aspect here which is almost played up too much ("Brigsby" did this as well). Taccone has experience with this kind of balance but it always tends to feel a little bit smarmy.
Weaving is using her native accent but upped it a little which I guess is a choice that was agreed upon since it keys into many of the jokes but in many ways it distracts with everyone else in American speak. This is a different character from Grace in "Ready Or Not" of course or even "Eeenie Meanie" which was a great film in many ways that got its tone better. The cast here beyond the two leads is also pretty great with Timothy Olyphant and Juliette Lewis playing an unlikely pair of fugitives and eating up the scenery like mad. Lewis is able to get her freak on a little bit more than in recent years as Olyphant is unusually game with him seemingly still sporting some hair from "Alien Earth". Keith Jardine plays another one of their crew (which plays almost like Olyphant as Zod and his Kryptonians in a certain way from "Superman II"). These fugitives are brutal and cartoonish beyond the situation that is already in play but each actor brings either a weird innocence, devilishness or sarcasm to their portrayal. Weaving, interestingly enough, is the one that plays it the most straight. Some of the sequences understandably are brutal in their violence and yet still very funny. And Taccone does not back off on what he does with these characters, especially with this cast (save for a boat sequence which actually could have gone a little farther). One of the best off-plot pieces which could have been cut in its lead up but really makes the movie is Paul Guilfoyle as Segel's dad one he sets his mind to a certain action. His eventual sequence made the whole place erupt (and that play is a signature Taccone piece blending music and pacing). That is when the movie really shines because the comedy and stakes and pacing all come together in the right cadence. "Over Your Dead Body" is an interesting, comedic and brutal swing as only remakes of Scandinavian films can be. While uneven, it has great bits of brilliance while still dropping out now and again yet still pushing the boundaries which is always the name of the game. B+
By Tim Wassberg
