12 in a Box

A funny four days around the manor

Writer-director John McKenzie admittedly fashioned the dark British farce "12 in a Box" after the understated old Ealing Studios comedies ("Kind Hearts and Coronets," "The Ladykillers") rather than take the more typically wacky -- and often tedious -- "slamming doors" approach. The somewhat familiar premise finds a dozen folks showing up at an opulent (and, yes, boxy-looking) country manor expecting to attend a school reunion, only to discover, via a videotaped message, that they've been randomly chosen by the mansion's dying, heirless owner -- one of the school's elder alumni -- to receive a million pounds apiece, provided they don't leave the grounds for 96 hours. [...]

di Gary Goldstein, articolo completo (1437 caratteri spazi inclusi) su The Los Angeles Times 7 agosto 2009