Film Review: Case 39

Published on Thursday 4 March 2010 18:23

CASE 39 (15) ** DIRECTED BY: CHRISTIAN ALVART STARRING: RENÉE ZELLWEGER, JODELLE FERLAND, IAN MCSHANE, BRADLEY COOPER

GERMAN director Christian Alvart completed this unexceptional bad-seed potboiler in 2007 as a stepping-stone between his full-blooded debut Antibodies and last year's Pandorum; it now emerges, in the wake of the classier Orphan and the similarly paedophobic Britpic The Children. Stressed social worker Emily Jenkins (Rene Zellweger) accepts another case in Lilith (Jodelle Ferland), a withdrawn child whose marks and friends have suddenly decreased. Intense parents with a fondness for gas ovens and digging holes in the basement seem a likely cause, but it's only when Emily takes Lilith into her care that she discovers how demanding the little brat is.

At one point, Lilith accuses Cooper's child psychologist of being "facile". "What do you mean by that?" the shrink asks. "Easily comprehended, lacking in sincerity or depth," comes the response. If she's good for nothing else, one concludes, Lilith might well have a future reviewing films like this.