3.3.2010

The Crazies (2010)
91. Did You Hear About the Morgans?


The Crazies is a remake of George Romero's 1973 film of the same name. This one takes place in a small town in Iowa. A government plane has crashed into the town's water supply causing toxins to contaminate the water. When the water hits the town and starts being ingested by the people, the townsfolk slowly start to lose their minds and become the titular crazies. The town's sheriff, his wife and his deputy try to figure out what's going on and try to make their way out of the now-quarantined town.

The story here is nothing new as biologically created "zombies" have been done fairly often in recent years. The action and sense of dread that build up as the movie plays out are the things that make it work better than it should. There really aren't many dull moments here. I know that jump scares aren't the most popular thing with genre fans but I enjoy them. Not because they scare me or anything but because of the effect that they have on my wife. She'll practically jump out of her skin at the littlest thing. This movie had her jumping a few times and squeezing my hand. Love that. The cast here is solid with Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell as the leads. Olyphant is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors and this movie helps his cause out considerably as he does a great job. I'm not particularly sold on Radha Mitchell though. There's something about her that I just don't care for. Danielle Panabaker and Joe Anderson provide excellent support.

Overall, I liked The Crazies a lot and definitely recommend it.


Did You Hear About the Morgans tells the story of Meryl and Paul Morgan, a Manhattan power couple. Paul is a lawyer and Meryl is a real estate agent. They're newly separated and on the verge of divorcing when they witness a murder. The killer gets away so the Morgans are sent into the Witness Protection Program to keep them safe until the killer can be brought to justice. They're sent to a small Wyoming town to stay with the Wheelers, a married pair of US Marshalls. Meanwhile, the killer is trying to track them down and take them out before they can testify against him.

I have but one word to describe this movie....blah. It's not particularly good nor did I want to gouge my eyes out while watching. The story doesn't have a single original idea and is extremely predictable. The performances don't really bring anything special to the table. Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker are the Morgans. Grant phones in his traditional romantic comedy performance while Parker seems to be playing a watered down version of her Sex and the City character. Support is provided by Sam Elliott, Mary Steenburgen and Wilford Brimley.

One slightly interesting trivia note is that this is director Marc Lawrence's 3rd feature film. All 3 of them have starred Hugh Grant. Kind of odd.

Overall, Did You Hear About the Morgans is neither good, nor bad. It just is. If you insist on seeing it, it hits store shelves on March 16th.