Unbearable

Rating: 1/10 (5 January 2001)

Having taken myself to the local cinema in a state of some anticipation following a thorough enjoyment of The Sixth Sense, my disappointment in this tedious offering from Shyamalan couldn't have been greater. With probably the most ridiculous premise for a film since Disney gave us that elephant who could fly, the storyline was laughable, Willis' stony expression bordering on that of a man with severe constipation, and just how are we supposed to take Jackson seriously when the man is clearly sporting an excited paintbrush on his head?
Shyamalan appears to have mistaken coma-inducing sluggishness for atmosphere here as we plod laboriously through the film hoping, waiting, for something - anything - to happen. The subplot involving Dunn's failing marriage and his clearly lunatic child adds nothing here, simply acting as filler. A low point in the film, indeed, when I found myself praying fervently that Dunn's son, wielding a gun with the intention of shooting Daddy to prove that he is superhuman, goes through with the shooting, kills him, then his mother and finally himself.
In short, anodyne, dull, unexciting and any more synonyms for the word 'boring' that you care to fill in. Don't even bother to get it on video, wait until it's on TV one night when your friends have abandoned you, your partner's left you, your pets have died and you've got no money left for booze - face it, things can't get worse then and you may just enjoy this film.