Odd Thomas

2013 supernatural mystery movie

Rating: 12/20

Plot: The titular short-order cook with psychic abilities tries to stop something evil from happening.

Let's talk about that stupid name. You're costing yourself a few rating points automatically when you call your protagonist Odd Thomas. Things started out well enough, vibrant and darkly humorous, but that hyper-kinetic modern style with the cutesy transitions and video game camera movements only goes so far. Odd Thomas's story just isn't very good, and the character, although likable enough, doesn't have much charisma at all. I thought his cooking skills were almost as impressive as his clairvoyance. I did like the special effects with the Bodachs, these fluid malevolent things that jerk and ooze and shamble. Their CGI movements were impressive. The real flesh-and-blood bad guys? Not so impressive and nowhere near memorable or even coherent. Fungus Bob's got interesting hair at least, but in the end he's just sort of a guy with cameras whooshing near him. Daniel Dafoe is in this, almost playing a completely normal character, grabbing tummy ticklers, etc. I could see Odd Thomas being the main character of a television series where he runs around solving supernatural mysteries, something that would probably be about as successful as Pushing Daisies. Unfortunately, the character really didn't get a story that he could shine in.