“Trespass” (2011) is a home invasion movie, a psychological thriller, the type of movie I love. You get to be a voyeur at an event you hope to never find yourself in – the stuff of nightmares. (Nicholas Cage has apparently been in this situation in real life). It’s fun to get scared at the movies. Director Joel Schumacher attempts to do this with “Trespass” but completely miss the mark. His latest film starring Nicholas Cage and Nicole Kidman is just another Hollywood misfire.

The Millers are an upper middle class family with a predictably disgruntled teenage daughter (Liana Liberato) and a dysfunctional marriage. Kyle Miller (Nicholas Cage) is a high-flying diamond dealer with a lifestyle of obvious consumption to protect. He is somewhere in the middle of the sales hierarchy and consumed by his work leaving his beautiful wife (Nicole Kidman) frequently neglected. Arriving home one night to his mansion in a high security gated community, he suddenly finds he is the latest victim of a home invasion. With his family under real and present danger, what will he do to save them? Kyle takes a new approach to defending his family that I quite enjoyed, intelligence. His negotiation tactics are certainly the highlight of the film.

The rest of the dialogue and drawn out plot makes the 85-minute running time tedious at best. Fortunately Cage and Kidman help save the piece from utter disaster. They are the only redeeming factors of “Trespass” besides the beautiful home the feature takes place in.

The intruders led by Elias (Ben Mendelsohn) are terrifying at first, but their exhaustive and repetitive antics render them almost laughable as the story unfolds. The use of continuous cheesy fade to white flashbacks to reveal the backstory of these one-dimensional characters really does not work. The script is very contrived and unbelievable which is always difficult for actors and audience to relate to. I was hoping this was going to be like Schumacher’s previous Nicholas Cage thriller “88 Minutes” (2001) but I was truly left disappointed.

If “B” movies are your thing or if you truly want to shut off your brain then go see “Trespass” (2011) but be warned, this is a rental at best.

By Chris Murphy