Jack Black in Glasses: A Review of Goosebumps

directed by Rob Letterman
written by Darren Lemke, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski

I was never an avid follower of R.L. Stine's popular Goosebumps series of young adult horror books, so I had very little invested in this movie going in, apart from rather expensive ticket which promised unlimited popcorn (and, to be fair, delivered). The movie actually doesn't adapt any of his books but follows the unusual (but not unheard of) narrative strategy of being set in a world in which people have read the books, with the author himself (played by Black) being a character in the story.

Black's Stine, though, is more of a supporting character in the story of Zach (Dylan Minette) a high school age youth who moves to a new town with his mother (Amy Ryan) following the death of his father. His only friends are Champ (Ryan Lee) and his mysterious neighbor Hannah (Odeya Rush), who turns out to be the daughter of the reclusive Stine. After seeing Stine shout at his daughter through their window on a number of occasions, Zach suspects domestic abuse is going on and calls the police. When Stine convinces the small town police that nothing is amiss, Zach takes matters into his own hands, tricks Stine into leaving, breaks into his house with Champ's help, and finds something he doesn't quite expect, and, without knowing it, unleashes something terrifying on the town from the very pages of Stine's books. He'll need the help of Hannah, Champ and Stine himself to stop the monstrous rampage that follows.

This film really doesn't have a whole lot going for it, from its Logan-Lerman-clone of a lead to its treasure trove of cliche characters to its bargain-basement, barely-better-than-TV-movie computer-generated imagery, but it does have something that I really got into: Jack Black acting completely against type. With a few tweaks and outright exceptions (like his family friendly turns in Dreamworks cartoons, and his Mexican wrestler in Nacho Libre), Jack Black has basically played the same guy since the year 2000, namely Barry from High Fidelity, so to see him change gears like this is a real treat. He doesn't play Stine with condescension or caricature but, surprisingly, gives him some genuine emotional resonance, even amidst the comedy that drives the film. It's nice to see Black star in a comedy without delivering the loudest performance. That distinction goes to Lee, though barring any star-making turns after this I don't really see him breaking out.

Also, the movie has a few worthwhile things to say about the importance of human relationships, though ironically enough it betrays it premise slightly as far as the obligatory love story is concerned.

I would not recommend for anyone to go out of their way to see this movie, but it is a decent enough time-killer.

6/10