ABANDON -------
Recovering alcoholic Detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt) is assigned a two year old missing persons case to get back on track. Embrey (Charlie Hunnam, BBC's "Queer As Folk"), an extremely wealthy, charismatic, rebellious artist vanished from Camden College leaving behind unused airline tickets and an untouched trust. Handler finds his last girlfriend, top-of-her-class senior Katie (Katie Holmes, "Wonder Boys"), who begins to have problems sleeping and completing her thesis. She also thinks she's being watched by the one man who caused her to act with "Abandon."
Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar winning adapter of "Traffic," writes and makes his directorial debut with this campus mystery that begins intriguingly before tripping itself up on genre cliches. A good cast is hung out to dry on the fledgling director's words, although two supporting players score despite all.
Katie's buffeted by a group of loyal friends, including Harrison (Gabriel Mann, "Things Behind the Sun"), the one man who made Embrey jealous but whom Katie only sees as a buddy. Still, they help Wade discover that she was deeply hurt when Embrey abandoned her, just like her father had when she was a child. Katie finally tells Wade that she's been seeing Embrey around campus because she's afraid - something which makes little sense on the surface - then makes a pass at him. Harrison makes his feeling known, then he vanishes just as Katie and Wade's relationship begins to heat up and she completes her thesis.
Holmes' film work has been promising, and initially she holds her own, but Gaghan puts unbelievable words into her mouth during a high-powered job interview, then throws her into an utterly unconvincing romance simply because his script has pointed out multiple times that she's irresistible to men (so much so that they seem inclined to leave her). While Bratt at least gets away from the plastic personas he's dragged through Sandra Bullock comedies, the romance is an even iller fit on him. Hunnam is an interesting presence (mostly in flashback), suggesting Jim Morrison crossed with Heath Ledger, while Mann ably projects the opposite - an earnest young man blinded by love.
Still, there are only two performances that are really of note in this disappointing thriller. Zooey Deschanel ("The Good Girl") gives a terrifically entertaining turn as Katie's down to earth roomie while Melanie Lynskey ("Heavenly Creatures") goes out on a limb with a twisted interpretation of a mousy girl as the gnome of Camden's stacks. Will McCormack shows personality as one of Katie's buddy trio, but Gabrielle Union ("Bring It On") is bland. Tony Goldwyn has a small role as an unprofessional guidance counselor.
Matthew Libatique's ("Josie and the Pussycats") photography is fine, frequently framing the heroine left of center. Music by Clint Mansell is a plus, wandering from a "Rosemary's Baby" meets "The Valley of the Dolls" theme to electronic musings and industrial undertones.
The biggest shock here is Gaghan's writing. One would think that the adapter of "Traffic" would know that swilling vodka shots, as Katie and her cronies do during a dorm blast, would be unlikely to produce a psychedelically 'connected' state while watching strobing blacklights, yet's that's what the group ends up doing. Katie tells Wade about a meeting with Embrey at his country house, yet Wade never makes a move to go there - instead he heads to the dark and dripping basement of a campus building set for demolition. Katie softens her blow to Harrison by telling him 'You're kind and organized...'
"Abandon's" ending is confused, with fantasy, flashback and flash forward mixed up with a major plot MacGuffin. The final scene is well chosen, except for it's horrifying suggestion of a sequel.
C-
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