It's not about the scares, or the "surprise" ending...

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 2004)

Those things only work, and only matter, because they serve a story in "The Sixth Sense" that is genuinely emotionally affecting. You care about what happens to Cole Sear, so hauntingly played by Haley Joel Osment, and you want to see Dr. Malcolm Crowe(Bruce Willis, in arguably his best performance) help him. You believe every second of Toni Collette's brilliant performance as Cole's mother, a woman pushed to her limits of worry and grief. In short, "The Sixth Sense" is that rare Hollywood thriller that isn't about the plot so much as it's about the characters, and that's why it works.