Quick Review: The Shortcut (2009)

When I first heard that Adam Sandler was launching a new branch of his Happy Madison production company to make Horror movies (aptly titled Scary Madison), I thought two things: One, the guy has problems making funny movies, so what the hell is he doing trying to be creepy? And two, since he's a big name, maybe he will at least throw some money at said creepy movies, and make them an A-grade level of watchability.

Unfortunately, this is absolutely a B-movie. C-grade, even. Worse still, the whole thing feels rather half-assed. It had me going at first, and I actually got into it, but by the third act I was rolling my eyes because I knew what was coming... and it wasn't anything good.

Now, I'm not trying to sound all "I always figure out what's gonna happen in movies because I'm really, really smart!" or anything, but it was just crazy obvious what was going on. Not only was it obvious, but the twist at the end... well it was just horrible. I won't spoil the movie by delving deeper into what happens, but if you see it, you'll know what I mean. It's just piss-poor.

There is, however, nothing piss-poor about her.

The constant jumping back and forth between time-lines thing got annoying too, mainly because it spoiled the film's big reveal. Had this movie played it straight forward rather than trying to be clever, it might not have come of as trite and cliche' as it did.

On the positive side, the characters were decent and mostly likable, and the movie managed to maintain a fun feel while keeping up the tension in the early-going. It did have promise, it just couldn't deliver on it in the end.

Oh, and Katrina Bowden is a joy to watch on screen, as are Shannon Woodward's sweater pillows.

What are you reaching for? LOL

I can't totally hate this movie, because it had some good things going for it, but the production value, script, mundane story, lame twist all made it something that I just can't like all that much. I can't decide between giving this movie a C- or a D+, so let's just call it below average, but not too painful?

The Shortcut is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD.

Shannon Woodward & Katrina Bowden are double hotness.