Review – White Noise

This whole thing reminds me of Jack Barth’s prank attempt to start a rumor that if you watch empty static on TV long enough occasionally the Virgin Mary will manifest herself across the vacant airwaves. The gag here is Electronic Voice Phenomenon, messages from ghosts rather than the Blessed Virgin, but the thought’s still pretty much the same. That spoiled at least the first third of the movie, because I kept expecting the EVP thing to turn out to be a scam, or better yet a scam that turns out to be real. I also had trouble suspending disbelief in visual manifestations. Audio I can imagine, but it was hard to get behind the notion that the dead can modulate their disembodied spirits to conform to NTSC standards. That aside, however, I guess the production has a few good moments. Of course it has a lot more moments in which characters – especially lead Michael Keaton – just sit around gawking at whatever is or isn’t happening on static-filled TV screens, or even what’s going on around them in the real world. Overall it’s a lot more wind-up than pitch. Mildly amusing