5 reasons to see 'The Box'

My colleague Geoff Berkshire didn't enjoy writer-director Richard Kelly's ("Donnie Darko," "Southland Tales") latest piece of weirdness, "The Box." I did. It's not great; the movie, about a couple (Cameron Diaz, James Marsden) presented with a box and button which, if pushed, will provide $1 million but a person they don't know will die, is too static and blunt for that. As a piece of spooky, mind-bending, 3 stars out of 5 sci-fi though, there's a lot to dig in this story that's ultimately about our ability to let emotions and self-interest lead us into corners we sometimes can't get out of. And, as people remain perpetually fascinated with extra terrestrial life, the film wonders why we sometimes put so little stock in the life of humans we don't know.

OK, that may sound like a lot of hooey if you haven't seen the movie. So these are the five simple reasons to go see "The Box."

1. The eerily calm presence of Mr. Steward (Frank Langella), the burn victim missing part of his face who brings the box into these people's lives. He hovers over everything with such even-tempered menace that you could imagine having him in for coffee if there wasn't a good chance he'd force you into a major, life-altering decision.

2. The continuous fascination of Kelly, who adapted the film from the short story "Button, Button" by Richard Matheson, with things we don't understand or can't explain. All of his films go to strange places, and "The Box" certainly isn't a passive viewing experience the way something lame like "The Fourth Kind" turns out to be.

3. Diaz tackling her most serious, unflashy role (the overheated "My Sister's Keeper" doesn't count) in years. With a Virginia accent and '70s wardrobe!

4. Polarizing movies have a lot of value. Who wants to see something and quickly shrug it off? In the theater many people laughed throughout the film; I found it nicely eerie, with a couple laughs on purpose but few, if any, it doesn't intend.

5. And, just for fun, you can't help but like the foreboding nature of a movie where nearly everyone seems to suffer a slow, spontaneous nosebleed, and technology and magic blend together. In "The Box" it seems like anything can happen, and that's rare in a movie.

What do you think?