The Box (2009)

I can't think about The Box without thinking about Brad Pitt at the end of the 1995 film Se7en shouting, "What's in the booooooooox?" Whereas the contents of the box in Se7en are never revealed (SPOILER ALERT: It is generally agreed that the head of Detective David Mills' wife Tracy is in the box, but there is just as much evidence to suggest that it is, in fact, her unborn child), the contents of the box in The Box are revealed in the film's trailer. The box contains a button which, when pressed, has two consequences: 1. someone that the possessor of the box does not know dies, and 2. the possessor of the box receives one million dollars. Because the film weaves its mystery slowly, audiences had a lot of difficulty connecting with The Box. Your average American has an attention span suitable only to shows as simple and blatant as Family Guy, so I suppose this makes sense. The Box was a great movie, forcing Cameron Diaz to actually act for the first time since - I was going to say The Mask, but she doesn't really act in that film either - since I don't know when. Pre-disposed to dislike this film, critics bashed Diaz's portrayal of Southern woman Norma Lewis in the same year that Sandra Bullock won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the exact same character (except that Bullock played a Southern woman Leigh Anne Tuohy in a football movie). With a little patience and perspective The Box emerges as a fantastic film. (In other words, stop reading reviews before you see the movie.)