It’s completely attainable to make excessive violence humorous. The unintentional headshot in “Pulp Fiction” is one quintessential instance, as is the wooden chipper in “Fargo.” The tone of each movies is finely calibrated, so each moments carry a way of absurd irony. They’re surprising, briefly, which isn’t the case with the unrelenting sadism of “Over Your Lifeless Physique.” By the top of this numbingly mean-spirited film, even a plastic baggie stuffed with fingers fails to shock, which in flip makes the second much less humorous. That simply leaves us with a fingerless man and the spouse who hates him.
It’s true that Lisa (Samara Weaving) and Dan (Jason Siegel) have lengthy since fallen out of affection by the point the movie begins — they’re mutually planning to homicide one another, which is as excessive as a breakup can get. Nevertheless it’s additionally troublesome to see what might have presumably introduced them collectively within the first place. The shortage of chemistry between the couple is exaggerated by Siegel’s blasé efficiency, made all of the extra expressionless by Weaving’s naturally expressive face. That being mentioned, this isn’t a stretch for the “Prepared or Not” star: Point out the title “Samara Weaving” to an informal moviegoer, they usually’ll in all probability think about her with blood splattered on her face.
Weaving does little to problem that picture right here, using all her ordinary tips as a bitter thespian who lacks the expertise to land the theater position that may legitimize her as a critical actress. Dan has been following a unique trajectory: Since making his first and solely function movie eight years earlier, he’s fallen again into directing junk just like the (very sensible) wi-fi industrial that opens the movie. She’s resentful, he’s passive-aggressive, and each of them can’t wait to be rid of one another. That is true for the viewers as effectively, and the one a part of “Over Your Lifeless Physique” that actually works is the sequence the place the leads not must faux to love one another, sparking a verbal sparring match that successfully makes use of each stars’ comedic abilities.
As with graphic violence, repellent characters don’t must be a dealbreaker in a movie like this one. “Over Your Lifeless Physique” goes fallacious by pitting this hateful couple in opposition to a trio of much more harmful and violent individuals, who actually crash by means of the ceiling into the couple’s bed room simply as Dan and Lisa’s story begins to expire of momentum. This occurs early on, altering the dynamic as Dan and Lisa are compelled to battle collectively in opposition to a suave fugitive (Timothy Olyphant), the delusional jail guard who thinks she loves him (Juliette Lewis), and their neo-Nazi enforcer (Keith Jardine), all of whom have been squatting in Dan and Lisa’s cabin after escaping from a close-by jail just a few days earlier than. (The movie was truly shot in Finland, which adequately stands in for upstate New York.) There’s nobody to root for right here, an impression that’s underlined by the constant lack of inferiority inside the characters.
There’s one particular second the place “Over Your Lifeless Physique” sours, turning a cheeky massacre into an off-putting and poorly calibrated slog. Generously, this scene might be referred to as a “Deliverance” riff; in observe, it’s only a rape joke, and never a very humorous one. Director Jorma Taccone bought his begin as a member of The Lonely Island, and his earlier feature-film directing efforts have stayed inside the goofy, good-natured model of comedy that made him well-known. Tailored from a Norwegian-language movie from director Tommy Wirkola, this film wants a director who can easily shift from foolish to sadistic inside a single scene, and Jaccone’s broad comedic sensibilities aren’t as much as the duty.
The result’s a film the place the jokes are simply imply, and the meanness isn’t humorous, resulting in a cynical denouement that’s been executed many occasions earlier than. “Over Your Lifeless Physique” has nothing to say about relationships, or filmmaking, or violence, though it’s a violent film about filmmakers who’re in a relationship. The stunts, notably the hand-to-hand fight, are spectacular, and though they range in high quality, there are just a few efficient prosthetic makeups as effectively.
That being mentioned, its skilled technical points simply add to the impression that it is a glib and insincere effort, attempting to graft a enjoyable moviegoing expertise onto a miserable story about hateful individuals reveling in one another’s ache. Once more, this might be entertaining in the appropriate palms. Right here, it simply feels smug.
Grade: C
“Over Your Lifeless Physique” premiered at SXSW 2026. Impartial Movie Firm opens the movie April 24.
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