Author: ChadPolenz@aol.com Subject: Review: The Gift (2000) Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews Organization: None X-Questions-to: graham@jetcity.com X-Submissions-to: graham@ee.washington.edu Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Summary: r.a.m.r. #28093 Keywords: author=polenz
The Gift a film review by CHAD POLENZ
WHAT IT'S ABOUT:
Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett), a widow who struggles to raise her children in a small town in Georgia is asked for help by local authorities in solving the case of a missing woman. Annie is something of a psychic, she has involuntary bouts with the supernatural where she can see the past and the future and physically feel the actions happenning to her she envisions. Her "gift" leads to the arrest of a nasty wife beater who may or may not have killed the pretty rich girl found in the swamp on his property. In an ultra conservative backwoods town will her testimony based on her psychic visions hold up in court? Do they even have the right man?
WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT:
Aside from Keanu Reeves giving one of the best performances of his career as the loathable redneck Donnie Barksdale, there is little else going for the film.
WHAT'S NOT SO GOOD ABOUT IT:
Lame, unoriginal screenplay. Predictable ending. Suspense scenes that are just plain boring. Ridicously trite characterization makes the entire South out to be ingnorant, hateful goobers. Relentless in its emotional sensationaliztion.
OVERALL CRITIQUE:
"The Gift" is one of those movies that makes you wonder where you've seen this story before. It's a collection of every cliche and stereotype of the South ever made, and coming from a Yankee like me who dislikes the South that's really saying something.
For an established, talented director Sam Raimi is unable to provide any kind of originality to this film. It's predictable from the first scene, the screenplay is written like a rip-off of a photocopied bootlegged play. You know that as nasty as the murder suspect is he didn't actually do it. It's no surprise either who the real villain turns out to be and what their motive was. Sigh, how trite.
For a supernatural thriller this is neither scary nor intense because it's so cliche. "The Gift" is basically a glorified b-movie.
RATING: * (out of **** = poor)
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