Not So Lovely

I finally got around to seeing The Lovely Bones. It's a prestige film--major director, bestselling novel--but it flopped. I could see why. The girl is killed (no spoiler--this is given away in the trailer) and then nothing much of interest happens. Her death-world is sort of silly and the life of her family, as miserable as it is, doesn't really go anywhere. I thought there might be some sort of tense, get-the-killer plot, but it never materializes.

Indeed, it made me wonder why the novel was so popular. I haven't read it, but perhaps author Alice Sebold was able infuse it with psychological nuance that the film entirely misses. Without something holding it together, the plot felt random at times.