Buying a new home is a process, trust me! The Fantastic Faith Ford and myself are in the process of trying to buy one right now, and unless you are buying one brand new, the house you buy will have “character” from the previous owner or owners. From upgrades to the things that you need to get repaired, you may want to change the color of a room or renovate a different room for it to fit your style and needs. In “The Intruder,” this goes to another level.
Directed by Deon Taylor (Traffik), this film stars Megan Good (Brick), Michael Ealy (Barbershop), Dennis Quaid (The Rookie), Alvina August (Supernatural) and Joseph Sikora (Power). This is the story of Scott Russell (Ealy), an upstart employee of a public relations firm, and his wife Annie (Good), who want to find their dream home as they move to Napa Valley. They end up finding an old, historic mansion for sale by a man named Charlie (Quaid), who says the home has been in his family for generations, and where he has lived his entire life. Since his children have flown the coop and his wife has passed away from cancer, Charlie said he plans to sell the home and temporarily stay in a local hotel until he can get moved in with his daughter in Florida. Annie and Scott end up buying the home, which should be their “happily ever after,” but as time goes on, Charlie keeps delaying his move to Florida, coming around more than is acceptable even to the point of doing chores like mowing the lawn making it seem like Charlie does not to truly give up the home. Secrets are revealed, and things get out of control.
The cinematography style and the look really compliments this film, especially the scenes where Vancouver doubles as Napa Valley. There is even a good job of showing the home for what it is and all the unique characteristics, and in a strange way it reminded me of the home in “Risky Business” or Home Alone”, where the homes were characters themselves. The cast does a good job with August and Sikora in supporting roles, but beyond that, Ealy, Quaid and Good are basically the rest of the cast list. Ealy and Good do well and had good chemistry with Good playing the lady who tries to be mannered and abstain from conflict and Quaid plays a character who seems to be the sweet old man, but does some things that are not the norm that you can kind of forgive. He is so good that I had that voice in the back of my head talking while he kept on pushing the envelope while not enough to break the law.
This is a suspenseful film, which you can expect with those suspension of disbelief scenes where I was thinking the characters needed to just use common sense like in “Kidnap”. There are also clues in this film which may give away the big reveal in the end of the film that some people may see coming as well as some “cheap scares”, but not too much. The film is about an hour and forty-five minutes, which is roughly the right length, and I did enjoy “The Intruder” as it is a fun ride if you are into these types of films, so I will recommend it as a Saturday afternoon or matinee screening in the theaters.