Good Movie undermined by a colossally bad ending

Rating: 4/10 (9 July 2000)

It is hard for me to really comment on this film without talking about its ending (I won't). For about an hour and a half, this is a spectacular movie, well-acted, with excellent script and dialogue, and moving at a good pace. I think it's something of a cross between film noir and thriller, and it has that eerie "Silence of the Lambs" feel to it (though much tamer).
This movie lasts one scene too long. I heard someone remark once that some movies "are great or awful depending on the ending". The very last scene in this film is absolutely preposterous; instead of wrapping up the story neatly, with maybe a tiny plot hole, the last two or three minutes brought to mind at least 20 or 30 gaping plot holes immediately. I have a friend who told me he could guess the film's "secret" thirty minutes in. Things like that usually don't surprise me, but this was so unbelievably, outrageously stupid I had no idea. I felt like screaming at the screen and demanding my hour and a half back based on that scene alone.
The only reason I don't consider this movie among the worst I've ever seen is because it is quite good for awhile. Haley Joel Osment is excellent, and the only good reason to see this movie. Other than that, I can't believe this thing was as popular as it was. The ending left me feeling so cheated, I wanted to break the screen in two.