ODD THOMAS (Anchor Bay, 2013) D: Stephen Sommers, w/ Anton Yelchin, Addison Timlin. Rating: NNN Blu-ray package: none. Rating: NNN
As entertaining fluff, Odd Thomas achieves liftoff thanks to its energy, polish, likeable leads, imaginative CG demons, decent scares and solid supernatural comedy-thriller premise. Sadly, clumsy writing keeps it from reaching escape velocity.
Small-town fry cook Odd Thomas (Anton Yelchin) can see ghosts and a certain kind of demon that enjoys violent deaths. Feeling compelled to use his powers for good, he’s helped by girlfriend Storm (Addison Timlin) and the police chief (Willem Dafoe). When the demons show up in unprecedented numbers, Odd (that’s really his name) shifts into sleuth mode.
The appealing Yelchin and Timlin leap into their non-stop banter with evident enjoyment, but writer-director Stephen Sommers (working from a Dean Koontz novel) hasn’t managed to make it very funny. He’s also prone to repeating scenes where Timlin and/or Dafoe gush over how strange and wonderful Odd is. (He isn’t.)
In place of the non-existent extras, you might pass your time with The Frighteners, a scarier and more humorous take on the same basic idea, or John Dies At The End, a far weirder one.
EXTRAS English audio and subtitles.
