The Intruder

The Intruder

Starring Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy, Meagan Good, Joseph Sikora

Directed by Deon Taylor

The Story:
Young married couple Scott (Michael Ealy) and Annie (Meagan Good) Howard are looking for a new home, and come across Foxglove, a beautiful estate owned by Charlie Peck (Dennis Quaid), who takes a shine to the young couple because they remind him of he and his wife who died of cancer.  They take the house, and Charlie plans on moving to Florida were his daughter already resides.

However, Annie soon finds Charlie still hanging around the house and doing chores for them, which angers Scott but causes Annie to feel sorry for the older man, as she invites him to family functions and maintains a friendship with him to Scott's dismay.  Soon Charlie's actions become more and more dangerous, and the young couple finds themselves ind anger in their new home.

The Synopsis:
When I first saw the trailer for "The Intruder," I already drew the blueprint in my mind as to how the film would progress.  As I half-hardheartedly watched the film, I found that my blueprint was right on point, from first to last, never deviating off its course.  Better relegated to a Lifetime Original, the only thing "The Intruder" intrudes upon is the viewer's time that they wasted on this highly predictable dreck.

We all know the story - a young couple buys a house from its original owner, who doesn't want to give it up.  That's the premise of the film, and there's no other roads it takes - pure, simple, and to the point, which seems fine because the film is only 112 minutes, but it felt like I was watching "Endgame" four times until it finally ended.  There's no tension, no real jumps, and nothing that sets itself apart or anything that will make this remotely memorable ten years from now - or even ten minutes from now.

Dennis Quaid tries to pull off crazy, but he can't even go full Nick Cage (or full Randy Quaid, which is the brother they should've gotten) here, and even when he tries to, looks more like an old man suffering from constipation than mental instability.  He should stick to selling Esurance and playing in family-friendly pet films than psychological thrillers.

Likewise, Michael Ealy and Meagan Good offer very little to the imagination, which is a shame because there's some clear chemistry between the two actors since they've appeared in numerous films together in the past.  Here, it seems that they just phone in their performances, and there's absolutely no spark between them.  Ealy gives a one-note performance, playing the traditional heroic husband who's wary of Charlie from the start, and constantly mentions that he doesn't trust the man.  Good's character seems to have come from the classic 50s era, as Annie is the only utterly clueless person in the film.  Despite Charlie's obviously unglued nature, she continually invites him over when she's alone and defends him to Scott repeatedly, to the point where you just want Charlie to end her and put her out of our misery - or better yet, for him to just end the entire film and put us out of our misery.

The Summary:
Despite the name recognition of Dennis Quaid, "The Intruder" doesn't allow him to really play the role of a psychopath, but rather sits comfortably in its predictability, resulting in a forgettable, safe, and absolutely dull outing.

The Score: D-