The Box (2009)

Image credit: Dale Robinette

The Box

STARRING Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Richard Kelly

Let's say it up front: Cameron Diaz presses the button. In Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly's new film, she plays a schoolteacher who discovers a seemingly simple solution to her financial woes — and those of her NASA-employed husband (James Marsden) — when a disfigured man (Frank Langella) shows up on her doorstep and offers her $1 million if she presses a button on an innocuous-looking wooden box. The only downside: If she agrees, a stranger dies. Kelly hesitates to say more about what he calls an old-fashioned suspense film but teases, ''Every decision they make has ramifications for themselves and the entire world. The supernatural comes into play, and the story kicks into fifth gear.'' Intriguing, even without a giant bunny.