Review: I Am Number Four (2011)

I Am Number Four
2011
110 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

I Am Number Four is a film that seems to want to be better than it is, but feels hamstrung by the hopelessly generic narrative at its core. Based on a novel by James Frey and Jobie Hughes, the film basically tells a variation on the Rosewell/Smallville/Twilight formula, with all of the reverence that seemingly goes hand-in-hand with such soulful teen outcast stories. But director D.J. Caruso refrains from playing around with the formula for most of the picture, either too lazy or too afraid to put a unique spin on the contrivance at play. After all, Catherine Hardwicke inserted a knowing snark and self-mocking humor into the first Twilight picture, and was fired from the franchise for her troubles. Up until the last act, I Am Number Four is all-too content to merely 'go with the flow'.

I Am Number Four gets painfully assembly-line trailer.

While the plot seems to resemble the old WB show Roswell, the sell is hardcore Twilight. I don't need to point out the obvious similarities, but there are moments on inexplicable humor to be found. Dianna Agron's scrapbook looks like a lost volume of Se7en's John Doe while Theresa Palmer (as 'number 6' of nine alien survivors) ends up looking exactly like Agron. I honestly couldn't tell them apart in several key moments in the end montage. Aside from how bland and conventional this picture looks, it's just another piece of evidence that, for the last fifteen years frankly, actresses have much more opportunities on television than in mainstream features. On television's Glee, Dianna Agron gets to play a three-dimensional character with a subtly changing personality. In I Am Number Four, she's the token love interest who exists only to look pretty, swoon, and be captured by the villains. Oh well, for what it's worth, I rather liked Disturbia and kinda enjoy Eagle Eye, so hopefully DJ Caruso can find a better use of his talents if this continues his hit streak. I Am Number Four comes out in regular theaters and IMAX screens on February 11th, 2011.

Scott Mendelson