The Gift
In a way, long-deceased director Alfred Hitchcock would be proud of "The Gift."
Director Sam Raimi ("A Simple Plan") has crafted a film that can best be described as a Hitchcockian mystery crossed with a CBS murder-movie of the week, with taut direction and solid performances but an entirely predictable script that fizzles out like a flat soda as time ticks by.
Hitchcock was the "master of suspense," milking then-dynamic camera shots and a creepy score to hide the fact that many of his film's scripts were not always up to snuff. (Look back at "The Birds" for some inane dialogue.)
In "The Gift," the story revolves around a small town psychic, played by Cate Blanchett, who becomes the only "witness" to a murder, even though she did not even see it take place. On the other hand, the widowed psychic also has to deal with raising three young boys, a mentally impaired mechanic who hides a family secret and a wife-beating redneck who shows off a wicked mullet.
Raimi is one of those directors who often zigs rather than zags, and in "The Gift" he showcases his skill for rising above the below-average material to pull out great performances from an eccentric cast. He also gives the film an overall intensely creepy tone with striking visuals (one in particular for young college males). A few camera shots seem to be subtle homage to Hitchcock's best-known classics.
Blanchett, with a superbly emotional performance, carries much of the film as a woman who bears a unique ability that plagues rather than benefits her unlucky existence. The capable supporting cast is highlighted by a memorable turn by the talented Giovanni Ribisi and, in perhaps the second most surprising element of the film, Keanu Reeves in a role that should be noted for its pure bravado, as he takes a role that is light years ahead of the Ted or Neo of the past.
Any umph provided by the top-notch cast and direction is quickly sucked out of the movie by a script that really doesn't give the audience anything original. The biggest disappointment is that the story comes from co-writers Billy-Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson, who teamed up long ago to pen the gem "One False Move."
In "Gift," everything becomes familiar and more tiresome as the movie goes on, often seeming very slow, until the grand letdown of an ending reveals the seemingly arbitrary killer and motive (like any "Scream" film).
So, in this oh-so-predictable movie that underachieves considering the talent involved, the biggest surprise does not come until the end of the movie when a certain "Dawson's Creek" vixen doffs her top with reckless abandon in an attempt to save the film.
