THAT was Donnie Wahlberg?!!

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 1999)

Okay, maybe that shouldn't be my one-line summary. I did walk out of the theater dazed, having laughed, cried, and screamed, and feeling a similar kind of shock-filled awe that I hadn't felt since the first time I saw.... Usual Suspects. Wait a second, Usual Suspects. The similarities are a little TOO striking. Is this thing ripping off my movie? I don't mind that so much--it's what works. Since that type of thing hasn't really been what you could call "overused," I'm okay with it. What I'm NOT okay with, though, is this movie scoring higher than Usual Suspects, because on originality alone it did not. Think about it, would you have given the movie such a high rating if it had ended differently? And you can only give so much credit to an idea that so obviously has been recycled. But enough diatribe on that. Beyond that, the movies bear hardly any resemblance to each other. "Sixth Sense" is much more of an emotionally touching film ("Usual Suspects" neither is nor tries to be emotional). And in spite of my bitterness, I did like the movie a whole lot. A WHOLE lot more than I expected to--the preview made it look even worse than Bruce's last "child-helping" film (something about a computer virus, right?) I don't think Bruce has been this good with a kid since "North." Anyway, the kid completely shone. I can't wait to see more of him in the future, he's amazing. And.. back to the summary line... THAT was Donnie Wahlberg?! Are you KIDDING me?! Donnie the "New Kid?" What?