The Box

Weird and uneven film about a mysterious wooden box with a big red button that appears on a family's doorstep. If they press the button they become millionaires, but the catch is someone in the world will die. Unlikable characters and the eeriness mood doesn't come off as creepy, but rather just goofy. It appears director Richard Kelly tries to compete with the successful cult-status of "Donnie Darko", but the parallels don't work in any way for this hopeless film. Members of the wonderful Canadian band Arcade Fire compose an even stranger and offsetting score to accompany the film, but it doesn't fit. Nothing works for this film.  The inclusion of Derek & the Dominoes' "Bell Bottom Blues" and Grateful Dead's "Scarlet Begonias" can't even help lift this outing from the bottom of the barrel.  Perhaps the producers should have pressed the button on this film and took their millions elsewhere. Based on the 1970 short story "Button, Button" by Richard Matheson.