Odd Thomas is a short-order cook who can see the spirits of the dead and is compelled to bring their killers to justice. Only a select few know about his ability. One of them is Chief Wyatt Porter, who would prefer it if Odd just told him what he needed to know and let him handle the bad guys. Another is Stormy Llewellyn, Odd's girlfriend. Stormy and Odd believe they are destined to be together forever, because a card from a fortune-telling gypsy mummy machine told them so.
When Odd starts seeing bodachs everywhere, he knows something bad is about to happen. Bodachs are attracted to death and disaster, and, for some reason, a lot of them are gathering around a strange man Odd nicknames “Fungus Man,” due to his unfortunate hair. Odd desperately tries to figure out what's going on, so that he can alert the Chief and hopefully prevent the deaths of many people, including at least one of his friends.
The first few minutes of this movie were a little crazy, with some cheesy stuff and lots of background info-filled flashbacks. The story eventually found its groove and became fairly good, but, in the end, I'm glad I watched this on Netflix and didn't buy it when I spotted it in Walmart a week or so ago.
I hate to say this, since they were supposed to be soulmates, but the movie was at its best when Odd and Stormy were not on screen together. Odd's dialogue didn't always seem natural, but Stormy's was even worse, and that feeling was amplified when they spoke to each other. I also disliked that Stormy was little more than Odd's hot girlfriend. She went to dinner with him, she worried about him and tried to give him courage, and she went to work – that was pretty much it. As far as I can remember, she was given no backstory, which I know was not the case in the book.
The last half of the movie had some really good, heart-pounding moments, but, all in all, this is another one of those instances where the book was better.
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