Richard Kelly’s third film, following the brilliant “Donnie Darko” and the futuristic mess of “Southland Tales,” tries to present a brilliant story based on moral judgment that ends up being too absurd to be taken sincerely.

It’s 1976 in Virginia, and NASA employee Arthur (James Marsden) and his wife, Norma (Cameron Diaz), are hurting for money. Despite driving a classic sports car and having a cheerful family, the couple is becoming financially desperate.

Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), a brutally disfigured man, rings the doorbell of the couple’s home and  presents them with a black box with a red button on top with a shocking offer: If they push the button, they’ll get a million dollars, but someone in the world, who they don’t know, will die.

The original plot for the film is based on “Button, Button,” a short story written by Richard Matheson. It was then adapted into a “Twilight Zone” episode in the 1980s. But the movie is Kelly’s own script. His version of the story tries to evoke deeper emotions than necessary. In order to make the moral dilemma seem even more powerful, Kelly’s characters see visions of death and the afterlife. His theme constantly calls on abduction, loneliness and heartache.

 The director desperately tries to present the moral struggle as the film’s most important asset, and for the first 45 minutes, it works to his advantage. The story line is semibelievable for the couple, until Arthur begins to investigate Steward’s past, and an entire subplot of world domination enters the picture.      

Arthur and Norma’s dilemma is certainly sympathetic, but Kelly takes the film off the rails midway through. A scene where Arthur and Norma are looking for answers in a library quickly turns into a supernatural alien conference. When the couple finally makes a decision, things begin to spiral out of control, and eeriness ensues.

The director uses his villain’s past to create some dark mystery left over from “Donnie Darko,” but he leaves out any humor to balance it. Paying tribute to “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “Southland Tales,” Kelly uses creepy CGIs and darkly lit sets to make the film seem eerie and mysterious. Kelly’s ability to produce suspense becomes tiresome mainly because the whole theme of alien abduction (yep, it’s in there) doesn’t fit the tone of the film.

Marsden is sharp, conveying a man willing to do anything for answers in order to save his family, while Diaz is terribly miscast. She reads her southern-accent lines without a hint of authenticity behind them. The talented actress’s career is in comedy, where films such as “There’s Something About Mary” and “What Happens in Vegas” have shown her true comedic appeal and talent. The performance she gives here doesn’t suit her and shows her real gift as an entertainer is making people laugh. Langella deserves a better partner on screen. His intelligent performance breathes life into a film that gets bogged down by plot as it goes on.

Kelly’s a talented filmmaker, but his imagination wanders way out of bounds as his sci-fi tale turns awry. His clever direction never fully recovers until the last scene. The film’s strength comes in its ending, where emotions and mysteries all come out in the open. It’s where Diaz and Marsden make viewers truly empathize with their characters, reminding viewers why they were drawn to the movie in the first place.

“The Box” was written and directed by Richard Kelly.