an Identity crisis

Rating: 7/10 (9 September 2003)

*****POSSIBLE SPOILER(S)*******
Identity was a film that I wanted to see when it came out in theaters but never got the chance. When it hit the dollar theater in my town, I still didn't get around to seeing it and I had to rent it for $4. I think I would've enjoyed it a bit more had I only paid a dollar to see it. In the end, the only saving graces of it were John Cusack and Amanda Peet. The movie started out well, but the last half was predictable (c'mon, the kid is the last one to go into the mother's bedroom? that was the point where the movie started going downhill) and the "twist" was not a twist at all if you had been paying any attention to the film. The movie was too short and should've been at least another 20 minutes. The whole cast did a really good job though - I thought it was kinda funny how three of the members were or are on shows on "Must See TV" on NBC (the guy from Good Morning, Miami, the Scrubs guy, and the friend from Mad About You) and I didn't really realize it was Rebecca DeMornay until the last few minutes of her performance but thought the irony of her role was pretty funny, too. This movie was more a pyschological thriller than a slasher thriller. It had the occasional "jumpy parts" but ultimatly, you were spending more time trying to figure the movie out in your head (for those of you who haven't seen the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about) than you were covering your eyes. If they had really wanted to, they could've easily made this movie PG-13 - the violence wasn't that gory, it was more just the "after" picture of it and the only other thing they would've had to change was the language - too much use of the 'f' word. But had they had done that, the movie wouldn't have been the movie that it was and I'm glad that they made it this way. I mean, if you were isolated with nine other strangers in a crummy motel in the middle of a thunderstorm and one by one people were gettting offed, would you really say "oh, dang it, I should've stayed home"? All in all, the movie had the right blend of violence/suspense and could've turned out to be something more, but really was just, well, Identity.