Great.. And Almost Good. This is The Real Identity of This Movie !

Rating: Null/10 (12 December 2007)

I'm aware that my title looks strange, but bear with me to understand that it's not that strange..
I'm a screenwriter myself, and let me tell you, it was very amusing to see how it works in my mind like this. I mean all of those characters, with their complicated conflicting attitudes, is the daily life of any author, of movies, plays, short stories, novels.. etc, and by all means, it was so fun to watch these enjoyable breathless conflicts, by those different characters, which came from the same mind, experience, and creation.
I loved how all the characters has the same birthday, with names of cities. Or how the mother of the author in the movie / the sick killer is in all the women of his own imagination as part irresponsible selfish (The actress), part good mom but dying (The mother of the kid), part swindler who acts like pregnant so she can force a man to marry her (Clea DuVall as Ginny), and part who's real pregnant and having Aids who committed suicide over a bridge (The memory of Ed), and of course the part of the prostitute who wants a second chance (The romantic prostitute). This is so clever in showing one of the profession's secrets, because this is how the writers work, and in the most simple and funny way too. Also it's how almost all of us put our personalities in so many forms, sometimes more attractive than us (Pruitt Taylor Vince became John Cusack as his pure version) yet with a purgation (Cusack as Ed nearly killed that wife, but he found the serial killer at the end, and died for it). It's the perfect game of that smart composition called "Drama" where one mind can be the killer, the killed, the officer who finds out the truth, and everybody else, not in that twisted way though, as you may find out the truth about one author from some point in his writings, or by the whole of it.
Hence, it's great for any screenwriter. But is it that great as a thriller? I don't think so. And the reasons are clear..
Yes, it's such a different plot amongst the deadly threadbare slasher movie plots, thanks to (Michael Cooney). Yes, it's very well acted and directed, sure (James Mangold) did a wonderful job. And yes, it has some nice references for iconic horror movies: The poor motel (Psycho), the Indian graves (The Shining), the multi-personality disorder (Raising Cain). But, it was that predictable. Because anyone in their right mind would ask logically what was the connection between what we were seeing in that creepy motel, and that late trial of the psychopath serial killer who had - as the movie itself brought up in its middle - a multi-personality disorder! That was a perfect hint in the perfect wrong place, especially with a character of a mysterious silent child, and a lot of history about the character early in the opening credit; surely we've learned from the best, I mean all the previous mysteries of the American cinema! Moreover, that hasty technique to present the twist as a premature climax; that wasn't talented at all to a dangerous extent. Because no one in the world would be connected with the story of the motel's alleged slasher anymore, as we all knew the real truth already. In fact, all the 20 minutes sequence in the end was un-thrilling, and the they could find so many solutions to make that more hot as they have done before in so many movies of which I can't tell about without so many spoiler alerts!
So the disappointment was large with that subversive way of writing the third act, and that kind of fabricated finale too with the killer going loose as if we will see (Identity 2: It's Not In My Mind!). It was just some kind of any exciting end to compensate the wasted suspense of that inadequate climax.
..Knew now what I meant by "Great.. And Almost Good"?!
P.S: I got sick of the way the name of God is treated in Hollywood movies, and this one - in specific - has one of the ugliest profanities I have ever heard. It's as if the idea of "holy" is dead, and there is a marathon of calling it names as well!