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The best scene of "The Stepfather" is the opening sequence,
which takes place in a suburban home at Christmastime. A
man, currently assuming the identity of Grady Edwards (Dylan
Walsh), stands in front of the bathroom mirror and changes
his appearance, dying his hair and trimming off his beard.
He then goes downstairs and, calmly as can be, pours himself
a cup of coffee and fixes up some peanut butter toast. He
gathers his suitcases, and just as he gets ready to leave
the house, we finally see the bodies of a woman and three
young children lying amidst strewn Christmas decorations.
***
We then cut to a scene in which a team of investigators
discuss the specifics of the case; Edwards, who has no picture
ID and pays for everything in cash, marries divorced or
widowed women who already have children and then disappears
once they're found dead. Because he has no record, tracking
him down would be next to impossible. ***
We quickly see the film's biggest flaw once these scenes
end and the story proper begins: Because we've already seen
that Walsh is playing a deceitful and murderous character,
there's absolutely nothing he can say or do that we won't
already be expecting. We know he'll charm another husbandless
mother into marrying him. And when she and her children
disappoint him--and inevitably, they will--we know he'll
fly off the handle. ***
Dull, tension-free, and devoid of shocks (save for
a few throwaway pop-out scares), "The Stepfather" is a movie
whose structure seemed to have been inspired by a high school
essay, rigidly taught as having to have an introductory
paragraph, a concluding paragraph, and three body paragraphs
that are each assigned a supporting position. You begin
watching this movie and right off the bat can predict what
will happen, when it will happen, and who it will happen
to. ***
Based on the 1987 film directed by Joseph Reuben (unseen
by me), "The Stepfather" goes through the motions yet lacks
the conviction needed in order to work. The title character
alone is a bundle of tired psychological clichés, an orderly,
methodical man who wants the perfect family but has unreasonably
high standards. ***
It sort of makes you wonder, then, why he would intrude
on the lives of the Hardings, where the teenage son, Michael
(Penn Badgley), has spent the last year in military school
for behavioral problems following his parents' divorce.
To be his stepfather would require a lot of compromise,
understanding, and above all, patience. Edwards, who now
goes by the name David Harris, proves time and time again
that he possesses none of those qualities. ***
"Family is the most important thing," he says early
on. "Without family, you have nothing." Given this simplistic
and inflexible standpoint, it's implausible that he would
even pretend to invest in bringing the Hardings back together.
***
But because he's a psychopath, I guess he's supposed
to follow faulty logic. In all honesty, the most disturbing
character in this movie is not the Stepfather, but his new
wife, Susan (Sela Ward), a woman so blindsided by her own
need for happiness that she fails to notice little things
about him pretty much everyone else notices. Why does he
suddenly quit his job as a realtor when asked to fill out
social security forms and other government papers? Why does
he call his dead daughter Michelle one minute and Lisa the
next? ***
Why do sketches on the America's Most Wanted website
bear a resemblance to him? How could he know the details
of a neighbor's death when he was never told about them?
And why does he have padlocked cabinets down in the basement?
Growing increasingly suspicious of his stepfather, Michael
takes it upon himself to do what his mother isn't willing
to do: Get to the bottom of things. ***
The final twenty minutes could have been engaging had
they not been so formulaic. Every thrill is so unflatteringly
predictable, it's as if the filmmakers included them only
out of obligation to keep with tradition. Would it surprise
you to learn that it takes place during a rainstorm? In
the middle of the night? I half expected a sudden power
outage (the old cutting-the-phone-line gimmick has officially
died--everyone uses a cell phone these days). ***
A lot of this probably could have been overlooked if
there was some level of mystery woven throughout the plot.
Unfortunately, we had the Stepfather character figured out
before we even entered the theater. So with nothing to surprise
us, what else is there? The problem with "The Stepfather"
is not that it's gory, vulgar, or in poor taste--it's just
so bereft of originality that it's flat-out boring. ***
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