THE PLOT THUS FAR
After stretching the truth on a deal with a spiritual guru, literary agent Jack McCall finds a Bodhi tree on his property. Its appearance holds a valuable lesson on the consequences of every word we speak.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
Jack McCall is a literary agent for the Apogee company, using his signature rapid-fire articulation to negotiate moneymaking deals. His sights are set on the “New Age crap” of Dr. Sinja, whose philosophies and teachings are attracting crowds. It’s a spiritual movement and McCall wants to be the one to sign the guru to a highly profitable new book deal. Shortly after his encounter with Sinja, Jack discovers that a Bodhi tree has sprouted in his back yard and that it sheds leaves quite rapidly – one for every word he utters. Mysteriously, the trunk has a magical connection to the agent’s body, preventing Jack from chopping it down. The calm, watchful, pie-eating sage hypothesizes that when the woody perennial drops its last leaf, McCall will die.
There’s a glaring error early on that is so blatant it’s hard to ignore it. The major plot gimmick relies on McCall desperately not wanting to talk. When he writes a note to his sleeping wife, each written word also causes a leaf to fall. Infuriated, he flips off the tree, which results in an identical reaction. As soon as it’s defined that a crude gesture affects the tree in the same manner as talking, the whole idea falls apart. Every subsequent effort taken by Jack to communicate is through some sort of expressive movement, whether it be a frantic form of Charades, furious countenance spasms, or tempestuous howling. Yet the tree doesn’t lose foliage to these commotions.
The Blu-Ray comes with multiple deleted scenes and an alternate ending. The A/V Quality sports a 1080p transfer and a robust DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track. For a film that got shelved for nearly four years, it looks pretty good. However, it’s just north of “Norbit” in terms of quality. C’mon, Eddie! People remember the 80s and “Dreamgirls”, we know you’re better than this. Only the most hardcore fans will want to rent this.
RELEASE DATE: 06/26/2012
