Bride of Chucky

While one can’t blame screenwriter Don Mancini for wanting to take the Child’s Play series in a new direction following the stale third installment, Bride of Chucky – saddled with Ronny Yu’s nauseatingly broad directorial choices and a few too many self-referential moments – feels more like a parody of these movies than a natural extension of the world established in part one. The complete absence of Andy Barclay (or, at the very least, an explanation of what happened to him) certainly doesn’t help matters, though it is clear fairly early on that Mancini isn’t looking to maintain the continuity of the series here (ie what’s up with that amulet?) The silly storyline – which follows two hapless teenagers (Nick Stabile’s Jesse and Katherine Heigl’s Jade) as they unwittingly find themselves caught up in Chucky’s murderous hijinks – is undoubtedly exacerbated by the mere presence of Jennifer Tilly within the cast, as the actress delivers as irritating and one-note a performance as one might’ve anticipated. Brad Dourif’s reliably effective turn as Chucky is the one bright spot in an otherwise tedious piece of work, and it’s exceedingly difficult to believe that the script was penned by the same man who wrote the comparatively masterful original.

** out of ****