Just a bit Overrated

Rating: 7/10 (26 August 1999)

[Editor's note: this comment contains a minor SPOILER]
The Sixth Sense is a very good film. Had it not been for it's unarguably clever and surprising ending, it would have been fairy entertaining, by the numbers fare. But the finale does elevate it past that level. However, even with that surprise, the film felt oddly incomplete to me.
The film's problem doesn't lie in it's acting. All performances are solid (although the great Olivia Williams is criminally under-used). Toni Collette was especially winning in her role as the Coles Sear's (Joey Hale Osmont) mother. The scene towards the end, when Cole shares his secret with her, it the most touching of the film. An unrecognizable Donnie Osmond gives a very brief, yet powerful performance as well. Bruce Willis and the child (whose name I may have incorrect about) are also good, but their performances are one note. Willis is believeable as the pensive, clever doctor but, with a few exceptions, never really emotes seriously. Osment's performance is perhaps the most overrated aspect of the film. I will be seeing this film again, and will try to pay more attention to him, but after my initial viewing, I wondered what all the fuss was about. True, he does a good job with the interesting character, but he never comes out of his disturbed, whispering mode.
Set in Philadelphia in the fall, the atmosphere of the film is successfully bleak and eerie. The chills, when they come, are very well done and will make you jump, but they're awfully spread out (the first hour of the film, for the most part, was dull)
The main distraction for me, however, was that the film aspired to be more than it really was. Willis and Osment meet for the first time, in a church. This church is used a few times throughout the film, but there really is no point to it. The spirituality of the sixth sense and of the character who has it is never explained throughout the film. Also, I wish they had elaborated more on the divorce of the boy's parents. It could have given more insight on both the mother and her son.
For the most part, Sixth Sense, was an very well done film. Very well worth the price of admission. However it had a big weakness-it hinted at several thing but never really explained them. 3/4 or 7/10.