Anthony Edwards' MY DEAD BOYFRIEND brings a character, if not a corpse, back to oddball life

How well do we know that person whom we live with and presume to love? Of course, you'll immediately realize that the answer here is going to be
"not very."

But wait. That doesn't begin to cover the manner in which the non-heroine of the new movie, MY DEAD BOYFRIEND, doesn't know her own live-in guy, whom she comes home one day, after being fired at her latest job, to find dead in his recliner, his corpse having been, from all we can tell here, simply watching TV.

As written by actor Billy Morrissette (from the novel by Arthur Nersesian) and directed by actor Anthony Edwards, shown at right, the movie fairly bubbles with the fun to be found (for the audience, if not for the girlfriend in question) in discovering just who this dead guy really was.

Further, as played by John Corbett (shown below, in that recliner, and at bottom, right), this fellow, who goes by the name of Primo Schulz, proves quite the guy who got around -- to various women and occupations -- all of which grow wilder and funnier as the movie moves along. And Corbett gets the chance to behave in a number of ways that we're not used to seeing from this actor.

The actual star of the film is Heather Graham, who plays Mary, Primo's last (or so she imagines) girlfriend, and the one who discovers his lifeless body. Ms Graham, still beautiful and sexy, plays everything here just a tad too annoyed to make us care much about what happen to her. Her character is not particularly likable, and while this is fine so far as some movies go, this one needs a gal to root for. And Ms Graham, who goes from annoyed to further annoyed, until she begins beating people with a cremation urn and wantonly slapping faces, is not that character.

The movie, however, is still rather fun as it romps along, introducing us to a number of smart actors, including Katherine Moennig (above, right), as Mary's best friend; Griffin Dunne (below, right), who plays an admirer of Ms Graham's character, and Gina Gershon who has perhaps the plumiest role as an art dealer, of which Ms Gershon typically makes the most.

In the role of what turns out to be the romantic lead, a young actor named Scott Michael Foster does a creditable job warming up to the movie's anti-heroine.

There's a pretty good soundtrack here, too, and a couple of nice musical numbers -- one of which makes use of that fun little song from the old Mary Tyler Moore show, which was also used recently to better purpose in the much more accomplished movie, Christine.

From Momentum Pictures and Orion Releasing (how nice it is to see that old Orion logo on-screen again!) and running 90 minutes, the movie releases this Friday, November 4, simultaneously in "select theaters" and via VOD/Digital HD. In New York City it will play the Cinema Village. Elsewhere? Not sure, but as it's available both VOD and digitally, if you want to take a look, I am sure you can find it.