Haunted Mansion

Directed by Justin Simien, Haunted Mansion follows a single mother (Rosario Dawson’s Gabbie) and her son (Chase W. Dillon’s Travis) as they enlist the help of several oddball figures, including LaKeith Stanfield’s Ben, Danny DeVito’s Bruce, and Owen Wilson’s Father Kent, to rid their house of various spirits. Filmmaker Simien, armed with a script by Katie Dippold, admittedly does a terrific job of luring the viewer into the progressively underwhelming proceedings, as Haunted Mansion kicks off with a promising and completely captivating opening stretch that benefits from a terrific meet-cute and its solid introduction to the title dwelling – with the better-than-expected atmosphere heightened by the first-class performances. (Haddish’s typically grating turn remains an ongoing weak spot, unfortunately, but Stanfield has never been more engaging and charming.) It’s disappointing to note, then, that Haunted Mansion eventually segues into a hit-and-miss midsection riddled with padded-out and downright needless sequences, with the inclusion of such time-wasting digressions wreaking havoc on the movie’s momentum and paving the way for an ineffective, exhaustingly frenetic final third – which, despite the presence of a few admittedly entertaining interludes within the picture’s second half (eg Bruce and Father Kent meet with a police sketch artist), ultimately does cement the film’s place as a perfectly decent 90 minute endeavor trapped within the confines of a bloated misfire.

** out of ****