Dream House Directed by: Jim Sheridan Starring: Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts Rating: PG-13 Release Date: September 30, 2011

TRAILER SCORE: 3/10

Thoughts by TSR: You know that thing when you watch a trailer and it seems to give away the entire film? That. If you have any interest in seeing this film when it comes out, I’d highly recommend avoiding this trailer for Jim Sheridan’s Dream House. On paper there are pieces I like, but having watched the trailer they don’t seem to add up to anything I’m particularly interested in seeing.

One thing I will say for the film is it has some great talent in front of the camera. Daniel Craig is a solid actor and it’s nice to have him back this year (in four different films no less) for the first time since 2008’s Defiance. From the brief looks we get, it appears Craig and Rachel Weisz have strong chemistry (unsurprising since they are now married in real life), and that goes a long way towards making a film like this work. Naomi Watts and Elias Koteas also pop up briefly, so there’s nothing I can say against the film’s primary cast. Unfortunately, that is about where my interest begins and ends.

I’m usually intrigued by the possibility of a psychological thriller like this getting released, so it’s pretty telling that I haven’t had much interest in seeing this one. I was hoping this trailer could show that Dream House has something different to offer, but it looks like a mashup of numerous other films of the genre. The last shot in particular made me feel like revisiting Kubrick’s The Shining rather than leaving me wanting to see this film.

All that said the familiarity isn’t something that would necessarily deter me from seeing a film like this. I can usually handle familiarity so long as the film offers up characters worth caring about and a fair amount of creepy moments. No, the Dream House trailer’s real sin is showing far too much, and that's the final nail in the coffin. I simply don’t see any reason to see the film when it’s released. Call me old fashioned, but I don’t think that is the reaction they were going for when they released this trailer.