A Movie About an Actor Made of Clay Is No. 1 in America, and Our Critic Has Questions

THE CULTURE DESK — The No. 1 movie in America this weekend is about an actor whose face is ruined, who then has his entire body remade out of clay so that he can look like anyone he wants. It is being marketed as a horror film. I have reviewed actors for many years. I would like to ask what part of that is supposed to be frightening to them.

The film is Clayface, from DC Studios and Warner Bros. It earned $10.4 million on Friday from 3,458 theaters, according to the trade papers, and it is on pace for something like $24 million by Sunday. Audiences gave it an A-minus CinemaScore. I have never given anything an A-minus. I once gave a sunset a C.

For readers who do not follow comic books, and I would like to count myself among you, the plot goes like this. Matt Hagen, a celebrated actor played by Tom Rhys Harries, is disfigured by a mobster. A scientist offers to fix him. The fix turns his body into clay that can take any shape. He uses it to seek revenge and, the summary informs me, slowly loses his sense of self.

An actor who loses his sense of self. I have sat through thirty years of awards-season interviews. I was not aware this was a cautionary tale. I was under the impression it was the job.

I will say this in the film’s favor, and I will say it only once. According to the production record, Mr. Harries performed his scenes on a torn ACL. I have walked out of films on two healthy knees. A man who finishes a monster picture on one working leg has earned a sentence of respect from this desk, and he has now received it.

The budget is reported at somewhere between $30 million and $44 million, which in the current economy of superhero cinema is roughly what a sequel spends on catering. The studio appears to have made a horror movie for the price of a horror movie. I would call that restraint. Hollywood will call it a trend, and by spring there will be eleven of them.

In second place, a film called You Can See Everything took in $6.14 million on Friday. I have not seen everything. I have seen enough.

My advice, as always, is technically correct. If you enjoy body horror, an actor reshaping himself into whatever the room requires is a frightening idea, and Clayface appears to know it. If you work in entertainment, it is also a documentary, and I would sit near the exit.

I have not yet decided how many stars to give it. I am leaning toward something in clay, so that I can change it later.