Movie Review: The Dead Girl

Director: Karen Moncrieff
Starring: Brittany Murphy, Toni Collette, Rose Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, Mary Beth Hurt
Year: 2006
Genre: Drama
IMDb: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0783238/ - 6.9
Plot: The clues to a young woman's death come together as the lives of seemingly unrelated people begin to intersect.

My Rating: 5

A dead girl's body is found. This provides the starting point for the telling of 5 short stories relating to characters that somehow played a part in this girl's life.

The Stranger stars Toni Collette, the woman who discovers the body;
The Sister stars Rose Byrn and tells the story of the pathologist who investigates the cause of death;
The Wife stars Mary Beth Hurt, the wife of the murderer;
The Mother stars Marcia Gay Harden, the mother of the dead girl who is looking for her daughter;
The Dead Girl stars Brittany Murphy the soon to be victim.

This movie is not a mystery, it's a drama and a very tragic one. There isn't a glimpse of happiness in these people's lives. The movie is very slow paced and there isn't a single exciting moment all throughtout, it basically just reports a series of events. Some people would argue that this is a good thing and that it shows the real world but, in my opinion it is just depressing and boring, you won't be entretained. However the movie does feature excellent performances all round by the ensable cast.

There have been a lot of movies in the past few years that feature a fragmented timeline and multiple substories. These include Crash, Babel and Bobby all much better films.

If you are really like these types of movies and being depressed you will probably "enjoy" this, otherwise I wouldn't really recommend it.

Trailer: