Movie Review: The Forgotten

Fri Sep 24th 2004

Starring: Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Anthony Edwards, Gary Sinise 
Directed By: Joseph Ruben 
Rating: PG-13 (Violence, Language) 

Haven't heard much about this movie? Great, stop reading and go see
it now. If you've heard a little and can't make up your mind,
keep reading. 

The premise is simple; Telly Paretta (played by the lovely Julianne
Moore) lost her son Sam (Christopher Kovaleski) in a plane crash 14
months ago but something inside Telly just won't let him go. Like a
zombie, she goes through the same routine every day, watches videos of
him, looks through photo albums and remembers, vividly. That's when
all the trouble begins, pictures start to disappear, her husband Jim
(Anthony Edwards) refuses to acknowledge that they have a son, her
psychiatrist played by Gary Sinise tells her that she made the whole
thing up. 

You might start thinking "great grab the Kleenex" as we watch
poor Julianne Moore slip slowly into insanity ... as great as that
would be ... thatâ's not this movie. No, this is a thriller. Once
the Feds step in, there's car chases, shootouts and explosions
enough to keep you on the edge of your seat (remember, there's
plenty of space behind you, sit back relax). Why are the Feds interested
in a woman everyone says is insane? Well, I'll let you go see the
movie for that answer. 

The key to this movie's success is to know as little as possible
about it before going in, it's not a surprise ending. There are no
twists or misdirection's just a good hard shock to the system. As
you get settled in for a conspiracy filled political action thriller,
the movie hits you with ten pounds of Sci-Fi in a five-pound bag. And
that's the only problem with the movie. This change of direction
leaves you with two halves of a story that aren't very well
developed, the conspiracy aspect is left by the wayside after the sci-fi
kicks in, and the sci-fi comes up pretty short. In the end, Julianne
Moore's wonderful performance pulls us through and in the end, we
find, that we really don't care that much about the rest of that
crap anyway. 

I judge all movies as how they compare to the greatest movie of all
time, Roadhouse, staring Patrick Swayze. This movie scores 4 out of 5 on
the Roadhouse scale, it's fun, has an interesting plot, and stars
Julianne Moore. 

"The Forgotten" opens locally today. 

By David Kerr 
Detroit Buzz Film Critic