Mine Is Tingling

Rating: 7/10 (7 September 1999)

Even apart from its "surprise" (just to brag, I wasn't fooled) -it's still a good little thriller- very aware of its (structural) limitations and mostly content to be what it is. Studio films are rarely this efficient or focused. And Osment is terrific, though it annoyed me to realize that, even without direction, he would have made a much, much better Anakin Skywalker (he was even the right age!!).
The smaller moments, though, are what make the movie worthwhile for me- the school play (light years from any of the like scenes in the abysmal "Simon Birch", for example), the couple in the jewelry store, the events at the wake. Shyamalan does a good job of showing people relate in _pictures_ (true, a necessity afforded by the plot); it's so much easier, but not nearly so powerful, to let words do all the work. Great decision to shoot in old Philadelphia, too.
(Side note: "Wide Awake" was also a religious-themed film, albeit in a much different way, and I've read that as a child Shyamalan attended a Catholic school at his parents insistence, even though they were/are practicing Hindus. As his career takes shape, I'll be curious to see how his background is reflected in his films.)
It strikes me that the film has benefitted from its relative lack of publicity- one actually had to go looking for information to find out anything. The less you know, the more the movie'll hit you. This is a rare instance in which the studio's inability to recognize what they had actually increased the film's impact, not to mention its box-office receipts.
That said, it's really just an overlong episode of "The X-Files" with the 'heart' of "Touched By An Angel"; theologically dubious and ultimately sentimental. Is it any surprise that it's become such a success?