The Box
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The Box
In 1976 Richmond, Va., a cash-strapped suburban couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) find themselves in a moral dilemma when a mysterious, disfigured stranger (a haunting Frank Langella) presents them with a device that, if they choose to activate it, will kill someone unknown to them but will also gain them a $1 million payment. Spiritually well-grounded adult viewers willing to overlook some improbabilities in writer-director Richard Kelly’s intelligently challenging, if over-elaborate, screen version of Richard Matheson’s 1970 short story “Button, Button” may be intrigued by this reflection on ethical choices and consequences, but the evolving parable includes actions that would be blatantly unacceptable in a more realistic context. Mature themes, complex moral issues, a few uses of profanity, a couple of sexual references. L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. (PG-13) 2009
The Box (Full Review)
Horror and science fiction writer Richard Matheson’s 1970 short story “Button, Button” -- already adapted for television as an episode of “The Twilight Zone” in the mid-1980s -- comes to the big screen as “The Box” (Warner Bros.).
But writer-director Richard Kelly’s intelligently challenging, if over-elaborate, reflection on ethical choices and consequences is suitable only for spiritually well-grounded adult viewers, since the latter stages of this evolving parable include actions that would be blatantly unacceptable in a more realistic context.
Slightly updated to Christmastime of the Bicentennial year, this is the tale of Norma (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur (James Marsden) Lewis, happily married suburbanites in Richmond, Va., and their pre-teen son Walter (Sam Oz Stone).
With teacher Norma facing budget cuts at her school, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration engineer Arthur uncertain of his future, cash is short, and the planned surgery to repair Norma’s foot, deformed by a doctor’s malpractice years before, may have to be postponed.
Suddenly, though, the arrival of a mysterious package on their doorstep, and the subsequent visit of one Arlington Steward (a haunting Frank Langella) -- the equally mysterious, and horrifically disfigured stranger who left it there -- present the couple with a stark temptation.
The package contains a simple looking device, a wooden box with a glass dome enclosing a red button. If either Norma or Arthur pushes the button, Steward explains, two things will happen: someone unknown to them will die, and they will receive a tax free payment of $1 million. They have 24 hours to decide what to do.
As the sometimes improbable plot unfolds, we learn that Steward’s unsettling appearance (most of the left side of his face has been reduced to raw tissue) is the result of burns sustained in a lightening strike, an event that also put him in touch with those he calls his “employers,” unspecified beings -- perhaps extraterrestrial, perhaps heavenly in a different sense – who use him as their agent in testing human morality.
Amid an increasingly eerie atmosphere, meanwhile, Norma and Arthur are caught up in a surreal conspiracy reminiscent of the one surrounding Mia Farrow’s character in “Rosemary’s Baby.” Against this background, the shifting forces of fundamental decency, momentary impetuosity, human interdependence and the inexorable demands of justice are pitted in a mostly intriguing drama, though one that requires careful discernment.
The film contains mature themes, complex moral issues, a few uses of profanity and a couple of sexual references. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.