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Eli Roth’s first attempt at making a kid-friendly horror fantasy, “The House with a Clock in Its Walls,” is largely watchable and a good introduction to the genre. Granted, it’s more than a little familiar: you’d be forgiven for thinking that the film’s trailer, which does a good job of capturing the film’s goofy mood, is an advertisement for a new film based on R.L. Stine’s kiddy horror “Goosebumps” series.
However, the storyline, which follows Lewis (Owen Vaccaro), a newly orphaned pre-teen who grows up to be a powerful warlock with the assistance of his eccentric uncle Jonathan (Jack Black), is mostly satisfactory. The pacing from scene to scene is also patient enough to establish the significance of certain key plot points and character dynamics as the story progresses. In addition, the collection of computer-generated monsters, which includes talking dummies and sentient jack-o’-lanterns, is slick in its presentation. You might be able to overlook the programmatic nature of “The House with a Clock in Its Walls” if you’re not paying close attention (perhaps you’re preoccupied with how much money you spent on your child’s concession stand treats, or perhaps you’re watching the film alone at home).
You might, on the other hand, dislike “The House with a Clock in Its Walls” if you concentrate on the film’s potty humor (we get it, the flying topiary lion isn’t house-trained) and over-the-top performances, particularly those of Jack Black, who seems to dominate every frame in which he appears. However, only the latter is significantly distracting. In addition to Black, Cate Blanchett (who plays Mrs. Zimmerman, Jonathan’s spinster neighbor), who is also well-known for her vampire roles, co-stars in the film. Blanchett, for her part, eventually demonstrates that she is still capable of sharing the screen, in this case with Vaccaro, in the film (whose performance is a little all over the map, but mostly OK).
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Roth, on the other hand, is unable to coordinate his actors to perform in the same scene. While this wasn’t necessarily a problem in his earlier horror films, such as the first two “Hostel” films, the proudly perverse “The Green Inferno,” and the silly “Knock Knock,” it became a problem in his later films. Nonetheless, it is a problem with both of Roth’s 2018 releases (and even I will not defend his remake of “Death Wish”). Having Roth allow Black, who frequently appears to be a soulless robot in the mold of Zero Mostel, to rely on so many of his signature tics and fallback mannerisms, it quickly becomes difficult to overlook the diva-like nature of his performance. In the scene where Jonathan invites Lewis into his magical home, which is haunted by a malevolent, ticking doomsday clock, this becomes immediately clear to the audience. In this scene, Jonathan jokingly butts heads with Mrs. Zimmerman and appears to have a screwball relationship with her. They may trade insults, but they are the best of friends in the world! In theory, at least. Although their dialogue isn’t particularly memorable, Black frequently appears to be speaking over Blanchett’s head.
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The film then transitions into a rote story about yet another pre-teen misfit who struggles to fit in at his new school, misses his deceased parents, and abuses his newly discovered magical abilities in a futile attempt to impress his fair-weather friend Tarby (Sunny Suljic), a grade-school loner who initially takes a shine to Lewis but then quickly loses interest.
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Tarby and Lewis’ relationship could have been developed further by screenwriter Eric Kripke, who was tasked with adapting John Bellairs’ novel. However, there’s only so much he can do when Black, who was once a brilliant scene-stealer, doesn’t seem to care about what his co-stars are doing onscreen. To be fair, Black’s one-man-show-style performance probably seemed to be the perfect fit for Jonathan, who is a bit of an oddball who frequently appears to be in his own world. Also not helping matters is the fact that Black is frequently not seen acting in the same camera setup as Vaccaro or Blanchett: there are numerous over-the-shoulder shot/reverse shot images in which Black is yelling and pursing his lips at the back of his co-leads’ heads and/or their equally out-of-focus shoulders.
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While still entertaining at times, Black’s clownish schtick is getting old (don’t get me started on “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”) these days. He has his moments, but he also has a habit of sucking the life out of even the most high-octane scenes, which is a shame. It is essential for any truly good comedic performance—especially those delivered by comedians who specialize in self-absorbed outcasts—that the performers on the screen engage in basic give and take with one another.
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Unfortunately, Black does not appear to be particularly interested in interacting with his co-stars on a regular basis. That may not appear to be a major flaw, but it becomes apparent when Vaccaro struggles to find the right tone for angsty outbursts or Blanchett tries to sell mediocre (but not entirely unworkable) one-liners in a crowded room. It was Black, more than anyone else, who should have been responsible for bringing “The House with a Clock in Its Walls” to a close. Unfortunately, he does not give as much as he receives.
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