The whole thing might have been salvaged if they hadn't cast Jim Carrey

He's the whole reason I didn't see it. I hate his manic attention-whore shtick.

Talk about an actor who has long since ceased to play anyone but himself in films -- Jim Carrey is one of the worst offenders.

He's the whole reason I didn't see it. I hate his manic attention-whore shtick.

You should rent it, and just fast forward through the parts with him in it.

They suck.

You should rent it, and just fast forward through the parts with him in it.

So she'll be seeing the five-minute version then? :)

I thought the production design was miles better than anything else about the film. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly good either -- there wasn't much there there.

I really, really liked the entire Billy Connolly and Meryl Streep sequences (and oh, how I want her rickety house with the big round window); loved their characters, thought the actors were great at both bringing on the funny and rooting it deeply in something tender and human and affectionate. IOW, they were actors, doing their job and doing it well. I also have a terrible mom-crush on all three of the Baudelaire actors; if I'm lucky enough to spawn, and I end up with a daughter who in her preteen years in any way resembles that lovely girl's portrayal of Violet, I may perish of delight.

Jim Carrey deserved to be beaten with lots of sticks, really hard. And possibly rocks and belts and then punted off a cliff.

Still, gorgeous kids who were all good actors to boot, strong supporting cast, lick-the-screen delicious design and costumes. Aside from the huge wacky mugging @@ x infinity monster stuck in the middle of it, it does have its virtues.

Also, LOVED SUNNY!

And yeah, I had the parent!crush on all three of the kids.

Jim Carrey deserved to be beaten with lots of sticks, really hard. And possibly rocks and belts and then punted off a cliff.

True, but that has nothing to do with Lemony Snicket. That's just common sense.

I thought the production design was miles better than anything else about the film. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly good either -- there wasn't much there there.

Exactamundo.

I don't hate Jim Carrey when he's not doing the manic-whacko thing ( The Truman Show, parts of Mask ), but fer Gawd's sake, people! They let him improvise in this!

I did like the bit at the end where the Jude Law VO is giving one of many morals and they show clips of the kids, and Sunny is toddling after a bright red toy on a string. Looked like baby wrangling; a behind-the-CGI shot of how they got her to walk.

Billy Connelly was good. Meryl Streep was good at first, but then lost it. I think she had trouble playing against Carrey.

Bah. I stupidly spoiled myself by reading a report of The Association of Flight Attendants being pissed about Flightplan. I do like the rejoinder of "We are confident the public will be able to discern the difference between fiction and the incredible job real-life flight attendants do on a daily basis." I mean, why should there be a rule that you can't portray flight attendants in a non-positive light?

Apparently, the press release by the union also mentions that they think that "demeaning" flight attendents shows "great disrespect to our fellow attendents who were killed on September 11th."

Excuse me? Are we supposed to deify every profession who lost a member on that day?

Makes me wonder if the air traffic controllers' union got up in arms over "Pushing Tin," it being only the first example to come to mind of a film that portrays people in a certain profession acting less than professionally. I mean, these people have seen movies before, right?