Worth watching for Isabelle Fuhrman alone

Rating: Null/10 (27 October 2011)

Even though I knew the twist before I saw this film, I was shocked at Isabelle Furhrman's brilliant performance. Vacillating between sweet and psychotic from one scene to the next, you can read what's going on in her head just by looking at her face; there are actors five times her age who still haven't mastered this skill. I nominate Esther as one of the greatest movie villains of all time, and here's to hoping that Isabelle Furhrman has a very long and rewarding acting career.
Despite Furhman's jaw-dropping performance, the rest of the film is surprisingly odd. The characters don't react the way you expect them to. The film would have been much more powerful and fun if Esther had concentrated on slowly driving Kate crazy, while at the same time being incredibly sweet to her. The film blew it when Esther suddenly became very cold towards Kate and started lecturing her about her other kids or her past drinking problem. Esther could easily have convinced Kate that she was going insane, driving her away from the family and leaving her to seduce John, but she stupidly left some loose ends. If you're going to the trouble of creating a super-intelligent character, why create one that makes so many mistakes along the way? I understand that Esther is insane, the film makes it pretty clear, but she must want something that she is continually unable to get, and the film doesn't answer this question. Instead we're left with a cookie-cutter Hollywood ending where the villain is thought to be dead and comes back for another attack, not once but three times...this is standard in films these days I guess.
Despite the above flaws, this film is tremendously entertaining, and there isn't a flat spot in the entire movie as you wonder what Esther is going to do next. I see in the other reviews that people are drawing a comparison to The Bad Seed, which I find quite cloying and melodramatic for long, unbearable stretches of time.