Film Review: The Glass House (2001)

A Hollywood thriller can have a good basic idea, good cast, solid director and high production and yet miss the most crucial ingredients for success. One such example can be provided by The Glass House, 2001 film directed by Daniel Sackheim.

The protagonist, played by Leelee Sobieski, is Ruby Baker, 16-year old girl who, together with 11-year old brother Rhett (played by Trevor Morgan), suddenly lost her parents in car crash. Children are, according to parents’ last will, given under guardianships of Terry (played by Stellan Skarsgård) and his wife Dr. Erin Glass (played by Diane Lane), wealthy childless couple who used to be the best friend of the Bakers. This appears to be a good choice because Glasses live in luxurious house in Malibu. Ruby, however, soon becomes to notice that their guardians aren’t as perfect as they originally seemed to be and that they hide a terrible secret. When Ruby discovers what is that secret is her attempts to alert relatives and authorities are hampered while Terry would stop at nothing to silence her, putting her and her brother’s life in danger.

The Glass House failed at the box office, which is often explained with its cinema distribution starting only few days after 9/11. The American public, still digesting shock of previously incomprehensible event, had little taste for dark thrillers and this reflected even to critics. Seen without context of contemporary events, The Glass House looks somewhat polished, well-directed and decently acted film. Young Leelee Sobieski tries very hard in one of her rare starring roles, while Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård is very good in routine role of villain. Supporting cast that include Kathy Baker and Bruce Dern also leaves good impression. Unfortunately, plot suffers because of cliches and that includes even the surprisingly bloody finale after which The Glass House looks indistinguishable from so many underwhelming Hollywood thrillers.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA

Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7