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A Painfully Horrible Movie--avoid at all costs

So I'm working on the laptop last Friday night (not this past Friday, the one before) and I see that "Wicker Man" starring Nicholas Cage is coming on and I had a faint curiosity about it. My husband decides to go to bed and I start watching.

Oh, dear God. If I hadn't been actively doing something else, I'd wish that I could have that hour and a half back. It was such a bad film, poorly plotted, ludicrously acted. Smoking guns developed and then let drop--it wasn't even suspenseful or creepy. Just laughable. The only reason I watched was because I vaguely remember liking the original with Edward Woodward from the 70's.

Now the only reason that this rates a post--since I don't usually burden you with bad films--is that the screenplay was written by Neil LaBute. He of "in the Company of Men" and "The Shape of Things." He also directed. Oddly enough, I have never seen another Neil LaBute film--I've only seen his plays. I'm a little afraid of his movies--like Rendell he is not afraid to create monstrous characters with all their flaws, and I admire that, but sometimes that is more difficult for me to watch in a film--where I am trapped for the duration of the film than violence. With a book, I can look up. Walk around--get away for a moment.

I have actually defended LaBute from charges of misogyny by saying that he's actually misanthropic (he hates everybody) but this film was beyond misogynistic. The vitriol against women here is... disgusting. And worse, like most diatribe, it is boring. The dialog is not even interesting--something that was always good in his plays.
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