Michael Richard Fallon

It sounds better than it is, because they take an interesting premise with an engaging cast and do pretty much nothing with it. Makes Notting Hill look like the Magnificent Ambersons. Owen Wilson whispers through half the movie like he doesn’t want to call attention to himself. Sorry, Owen, we can see you. The leads have no chemistry because there is no friction between them. Not every rom-com has to feature a combatting couple, but most of the best ones do. And it’s rarely funny. No rom, no com.

It Chapter 2 takes itself too seriously (as the nearly 3-hour running time would indicate), except when it doesn’t. Scenes of brutal violence set a dark tone and then it turns into a combination of Goonies and an amusement park haunted house ride. It blatantly rips off Carpenter’s The Thing and then acknowledges it with a line from Bill Hader (redeeming itself, to my eyes). Hader, in fact, seems to relax into the goofy spirit of the movie, even kind of making fun of it, and I ultimately had a good time when I did the same. No, it’s not scary, but how many movies really are (to adults, anyway). But it’s fun.