Good chance to play "spot the kiwi"

I have not read "The Lovely Bones" and having seen the movie I wish I had so I could understand what was going on. This is not good. A movie should make sense in and of itself.
There were many things here I did not get. I did not quite understand all the pfaffing around in the "in between" place, I didn't get why Susan Sarandon's character was played for laughs, I didn't get why Susie Salmon's sister took such a risk breaking into the murderer's house. On and on and on. My biggest problem was with the ending. No payoff. At the end there's a prolonged scene where you just know they're going to discover where Susie's body is, you just know it. Susie's been trying to lead them to the murderer all through the movie and here she is, just ready to tell the psychic girl, and she detours into a creepy possession scene to experience "love's first kiss". The murderer does "get his" in the end, but it seems much more down to karma than the legal justice system. Not the first time Peter Jackson's movies have failed to deliver in the ending department (see "The Return of the King" and his leaving Faramir and Eowyn, having won huge personal victories, just dangling).
However, that said, stellar cast and quite cool to play "spot the kiwi".