Mellow suspense film. Spoilers.

Rating: 7/10 (14 March 2000)

I hadn't seen the trailer and don't care much for Bruce Willis, so it wasn't until this last weekend (and a slew of Oscar nominations) that I plunked down matinee money to see The Sixth Sense. I knew there was some Big Secret Twist and the tag line ("I see dead people"), but that was all I knew.
Without spoiling anything, I've got to say that pretty soon into the movie I had figured out the twist, and I thought it was so obvious that I assumed there must be something more; halfway into the movie I realized, nope -- the writer director is saving this up for his big revelation. That was a letdown.
Dispensing with that, I thought this was a decent enough movie. The character study made this probably the most mellow suspense movie I've ever seen, but that was fine. The movie rightly lets its emphasis fall on the young boy who is far more interesting than his doctor, but this also leaves one of the holes large enough to drive a truck through: the disintegration of the doctor's marriage so quickly after being shot is presented as an incongruous "given;" that was my immediate tip off that there was only one explanation. The movie also plays a little coy with its supernatural rules ("they can only see what they want") so that the dead can move a physical object (a coin, videocassette box, a piece of jewelry) but then, maybe not (the desk barring the door).
The main reasons I decided to see the movie were 1) check out Haley's performance and 2) there's just not much else out there right now. All of the performances in the film are good, but Haley Joel Osmet and Toni Collette, as the boy's mother, have a couple of scenes together which are terrific. Neither one gets to exhibit a great deal of range -- not their fault; it's written into their parts -- but they more than make due with what they're handed. Osmet and Collette's final scene together in the car is absolutely fantastic, wrenching stuff.
A side note: Osmet is in far too many scenes to be considered a supporting actor. Perhaps that's just my perception because I was quite interested in his character and predicament, but as I think back, he still seems to have about equal screen time with Willis. I haven't noticed that anyone else picked up on this, though.