Renee Zellweger stars as Emily, a straight talking and over-worked social worker struggling to make a difference to the lives of the children she works with. When her boss gives her a new case (the titular Case 39), she meets Lily, a quiet and withdrawn young girl who is convinced that her parents are trying to kill her. Emily discovers this claim to be true one night and rescues Lily from the clutches of her apparently evil mother and father. With Emily now looking after the girl, she begins to suspect that her parents may have been trying to kill her for a very good reason and as Emily’s nearest and dearest start dying in mysterious accidents, she sets out to finish what Lily’s parents started.
This film had a very troubled (and well documented) production history and sat on the shelf for years before finally being rush released earlier this year after countless release date shifts. With all of the signs (and many reviews) pointing to the end product being a total stinker, I wasn’t expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The film looks good, has a solid cast and a decent story at its core. I also believe that Christian Alvart is a good director. Therefore, I suspect that the majority of the film’s problems are as a result of studio interference and poor editing choices. My main problems with the film are all pacing and editing related issues. It takes forever to start, is structurally awkward at times and is ultimately about twenty minutes too long.
I’m not a Zellweger fan (mainly because she bad mouthed the genre once and I can’t get over it) but I love Callum Keith Rennie and Jodelle Ferland and both turn in credible performances here, as do the rest of the supporting cast.
Some of the effects work is too CGI heavy for my liking and there are also plenty annoying yet obligatory OTT musical stingers and sound effects present too.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Case 39 would undoubtedly benefit from tightening in places and a little bit of time line re-ordering. If Paramount had gotten their act together sooner to sort these issues out then they’d have had quite a decent thriller on their hands. As it stands, it’s not unpleasant viewing for a chilly winter’s night.
