Jorma Taccone's Over Your Dead Body is a 2026 American action comedy thriller written by Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney. The premise sounds designed for a festival crowd: a struggling indie director named Dan and a middling stage actress named Lisa who cannot make it through a car ride without insults, have accumulated crushing debt over their marriage, and decide separately that murder is the answer.
On paper, this works. The film is an English-language remake of the 2021 Norwegian film The Trip, which starred Noomi Rapace and already mined dark comedy from marital contempt. The new version leans harder into humour than its source material, which makes sense given Taccone's pedigree: he is a Saturday Night Live alumnus and member of the Lonely Island comedy trio, known for Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping and MacGruber.
The first act crackles with wit. Segel and Weaving make their arguments feel lived in and empathetic; it's hard not to bristle with rage at how Dan condescendingly berates his wife's acting or recoil at how Lisa sardonically teases Dan for his creative burnout. The duo can hurt each other with such polished hatred, with insults deliciously calibrated to deliver maximum damage. One reviewer praised a standout scene where Dan and Lisa both act out the remorse they would showcase to authorities if they managed to successfully kill the other, culminating in a hilarious moment where both try and mostly fail to squeeze tears from their eyes.
The problem arrives, as problems do, with the second act. When a trio of dangerous outsiders interrupt the deadly weekend getaway Dan and Lisa had planned, what should have been a game of marital cat and mouse turns into a deliciously gory, if overly protracted, battle for survival. From here, critical consensus fractures. The film is "even gorier" than the already bloody original, with much of the film a rewrite with additional comedy elements. The final third features innovative action design with 87North showing creative choreography as the non-professional leads use improvised weapons including billiard balls, pitchforks, and a lawnmower.
Yet several reviewers flagged a troubling shift in tone. The early scenes where Dan and Lisa verbalise their fallen love display crackling, witty energy that the film too often loses thereafter, with Segel and Weaving trading insults that have as much impact as physical blows. The film's middle stretches feel like narrative bloat. One critic noted a languorous second act nearly derails momentum, but the bookends are so strong that by the time the credits roll, all you'll be thinking about are the highs.
Where the film truly stumbles is in its comedy of violence. A graphic scene where attempted rape is played for comedy nearly stops the movie cold, something that may have worked in Wirkola's original but comes off poorly here. The original Norwegian film, darker and more austere, could sustain such darkness. Taccone's version, built on laughs and ensemble chaos, cannot quite manage the tonal gymnastics it demands of itself.
Segel makes Dan a bitterly perceptive geek out of his depth but eager to prove himself, while Weaving invests Lisa with a snappishness that only camouflages her pain. Segel's comic timing remains strong and Weaving's action skills are competent, though the two don't have much chemistry, both as a couple and as actors. The supporting cast fares better; Timothy Olyphant is stolen the film, with little smart choices from an inquisitive head tilt to a sociopathic smirk.
What emerges is a film suspended between ambitions. The team aimed to maintain the original's "teeth" while infusing it with their own comedic sensibilities, with the film's ability to balance multiple tones a key factor in its critical reception. Early reviews out of SXSW have been mixed to positive, with the film holding 69 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes based on 13 critic reviews. Some critics praise the film for its simple premise that excels comedically despite slowly losing focus, whilst others lament a lack of focus in presentation, though most remain positive about the relationship and humour elements.
Over Your Dead Body is set to be released by Independent Film Company on 24 April 2026. The film works best when it trusts its two leads to carry the emotional truth beneath the violence. It falters when it forgets that a marriage, even a fictitious and murderous one, demands empathy to matter.