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 Well,
folks, another Christmas has come and gone--and not a moment too soon!
After drinking lots of eggnog, hanging out with friends and family,
and getting lots of great gifts, now's the time to stand in line and
return the ones that weren't so great. Speaking of which, maybe Hollywood
can do the same with Sam Raimi's latest film, which is titled--appropriately
enough--"The Gift."
This supernatural
suspense thriller may come with a truckload of talent attached to
it, including Oscar-winners Billy Bob Thornton (who co-wrote the
screenplay) and Hilary Swank, as well as Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett,
but all that's left under this pretty wrapping paper is a product
that we've seen twice already over the last 18 months. Hot on the
heels of "The Sixth Sense" and "What Lies Beneath," "The Gift" is
a derivative and unimaginative potboiler that will hopefully mark
the end of the unofficial "I see dead people" trilogy.
The citizens
of the small southern town of Brixton, Georgia, suffer from more
emotional instability than your average Hollywood production company.
This gives Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett) plenty to do, since she
gets by (barely) as a single mother of three by using her ESP powers
to read the fortunes of her neighbors. When the rich fiance (Katie
Holmes) of her son's teacher (Greg Kinnear) turns up dead, the authorities
reluctantly call upon Annie's special powers to help them find the
killer. In the meantime, Annie has to protect her kids from a manic-depressive
auto mechanic (Giovanni Ribisi) and the wife-beating husband (Keanu
Reeves) of one of her clients (Hilary Swank). With problems like
this, Annie soon discovers that her gift is more like a curse.
After achieving
cult status with the hyper-kinetic "Evil Dead" films, director Sam
Raimi broke out of the underground with 1998's ultra-intense "A
Simple Plan." Not only did it turn out to be one of the best films
of that year, but it also showed Raimi to be a filmmaker with a
remarkable flair for effective character development and finely
crafted suspense.
For much of
the time, "The Gift" follows up on that promise. Once again, Raimi
has a good eye for fleshing out his characters, but as soon as the
supernatural element takes over, Raimi falls back into his old ways
with the type of frenetic and flashy style that almost boxed him
into a creative corner in the first place. Instead of adding to
the suspense, the blending of the two styles is more like a distraction
that dulls the effectiveness of the film.
Thanks to
a host of derivative elements, "The Gift" instantly brings to mind
the similarly-themed "The Sixth Sense" and, to a lesser extent,
"What Lies Beneath." Rather than build on its suspense like its
predecessors, "The Gift" merely seems content to rehash them in
an ineffective way. Not only does the film feature a character with
mysterious powers, but it also features a lake and a bathtub as
key story elements.
Fortunately,
when the screenplay takes a backseat, the performances take the
wheel. As the sensitive, spooked and troubled fortune teller, Cate
Blanchett gives a mesmerizing performance that's almost enough to
keep the film balanced. Keanu Reeves is genuinely creepy as the
town's resident wife-beater, while Katie Holmes, in a brief, but
pivotal role, breaks out of TV's "Dawson's Creek" with a sultry
and sexy performance. Greg Kinnear also deserves kudos for broadening
his range, while Giovanni Ribisi gives his suicidal auto mechanic
a disturbing turn reminiscent of his old appearance on TV's "The
X-Files."
Raimi keeps
"The Gift" moving at an even pace in an effort to keep you guessing,
but it still ends up as predictable and contrived. What's ironic
is that even after the critical beating that "What Lies Beneath"
got for being too derivative of Hitchcock (which was the whole idea,
thank you very much!), "The Gift" tries to pass itself off as something
new. Clearly, it's not. Considering that Hollywood has given this
gift to moviegoers a few times already, maybe it's not too late
to re-wrap it and exchange it for something else.
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