Talk About Red Herrings

Rating: Null/10 (26 August 2004)

This was a fair idea. A good cast, on the face of it. And the would-be-king of twists. So where did it all go wrong? Well, there's no faulting James Newton-Howard's music, which helped the film along. The sets and scenery reminded me of 'Sleepy Hollow' and 'Blair Witch Project' (the latter film being awful, in my opinion) but the direction left me giggling. Supposedly meaningful shots of rocking-chairs. If this meant anything and I'm dumb, put me out of my misery. The worst of it is the acting, with the exception of the blind girl, although even she has to be given one of the worst, last lines in movie history. Mr Pheonix seems to be convincing enough, but he is confined to a horizontal position for the last half of the movie. Did he 'do' an Oliver Reed or David Hemmings and they couldn't find a double? Sigourney Weaver is good as always but she is hardly in the storyline. Brendan Gleeson plays his usual part. William Hurt, behind a bushy beard, may have insisted on 95% of his shots being side-on, presumably because he couldn't stop laughing at his atrocious dialogue. But the most hilarious performance comes from Adrien Brody. I didn't see 'The Pianist' but I'll bet he's glad he's already won an Oscar, because if he gets another part, it will probably be as a stage warm-up act for Woody Allen. It's almost worth seeing again to really have a good laugh. I think this movie is even worse than 'Unbreakable' and I haven't seen 'Signs' although people exiting the cinema were overheard to compare the two ('Signs' and this rubbish, that is). I still give it 5 out of 10 for some aspects, including the twists, the red herrrings, and the music. But the real reason I dislike this is that it is an obvious attempt at capturing the atmosphere of 'Sleepy Hollow', which it can never do. Sorry Mr S. One good twist does not a movie make.