The premise for The Box is fairly simple. You receive a box with a button on it. You are then given the choice to press the button, which will result in two things: a stranger somewhere will die and you will receive 1 million dollars. Upon hearing about this premise you will decide on one of two things: it sounds promising and could be a great movie or it sounds completely stupid. Unfortunately, I was with the first group who thought this film sounded interesting and had a lot of potential.
The film takes place some time in the 70s and the entire film is shot with a retro feel to it making it reminiscent of films like ‘Poltergeist’ or ‘Close Encounters’. However, the visual comparisons end there as The Box doesn’t have any of the substance of any of the two previously mentioned films. Cameron Diaz is a school teacher / mother who is employed at a prestigous local private school which her son also attends. James Marsden plays her husband, who works for NASA and is a hopeful candidate for the astronaut program. To make a long story short, the family comes into some financial hardship and decides to press the button. What ensues is a confusing and uninteresting romp towards a less than impresive climax.
Most of the interest in the plot stems from the mysterious box. How does it work? How do people die from it? Unfortunately the answers to these questions ultimatley drag the movie down quite a bit. I won’t spoil the details, but the method in which they explain everything is seriously dissappointing.
If you are really dying to watch this movie, then it may be worth renting to see for yourself. I watched this movie for free and was still disappointed even with my bar set relatively low. It is a shame since Marsden and Diaz are great actors but unfortunately they weren’t good enough to salvage this film.