An emotionally wracking ghost story.

Rating: 10/10 (5 September 1999)

The word of mouth (WOM) on this movie has been huge and I finally got around to seeing it after 4 weeks and I'm glad I did. If you have not seen it yet DO NOT KNOW THE ENDING. I won't even hint at it here except to say it is one the best in movie history. This is easily one of the best 3 films of year (among The Matrix, EdTV and Thomas Crown). I had tears running down my cheeks about 4 different times throughout this film and all because I cared about the kid. Haley Joe Osment gives the best child performance I've ever seen (even topping those given in CE3K and ET and Sleepers) as a sweet and troubled child who sees ghost. He should be a lock for a nomination for best lead actor Oscar (but then again "Shakespeare..." won a "best film" Oscar last year). Bruce Willis is wonderful as a sympathetic shrink trying to treat the kid (anybody who saw "Nobody's Fool" will not be surprised by his work here) and Toni Collette (who?) is just right as the kid's mom. Also Olivia Williams is very fine and very beautiful as Willis's wife. Writer-director M. Night Smyamalan trusts the intelligence of his audience by giving us a screenplay as heart-tugging as "Titanic" or "Field Of Dreams". The scares here are creepy but not shocking. He's too smart for that and they work because we really care about the people in the movie. His direction is virtually perfect. James Newton Howard's score is his best since "Grand Canyon" and just as memorable (I can't wait to buy it). I'd heard that it was an excellent movie, but I still wasn't prepared by how good it was. The thing that really sets it apart is that for a scary movie it is touches your heart and in that respect it reminds me of "Ghost" (although this is much scarier) and "Jacob's Ladder".