Forgotten, The (2004)

reviewed by
Jon Popick


PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com

"We Put the SIN in Cinema"

© Copyright 2004 Planet Sick-Boy. All Rights Reserved.

If you've seen the trailer for Joseph Ruben's The Forgotten, you still don't

really have a clue what it's all about. I thought I had the whole thing

figured out after seeing the preview a few times, but was way off. Waaay

off. That's a nice surprise, but it doesn't necessarily make The Forgotten

that strong of a picture. I guess the word I'd choose to use to describe

the X Files-slash-The Twilight Zone flick would be "interesting."

Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore, Laws of Attraction) is the still-grieving

mother of a kid who died in a plane crash 14 months ago.  Or is she?  With

virtually no setup (thankfully - we're talking about a lean 96 minutes

here), the people around Telly seem convinced her child never existed.

They - her husband (Anthony Edwards), shrink (Gary Sinise), and neighbor

(The Wire's Dominic West) - explain that Telly lost her baby during

delivery, and has a bizarre psychological disorder in which she has

developed a secret life where little Sam grew into a regular kid who never

really exist.

So far, so good. I figured we were ready to embark on a trip where Telly

fought an uphill battle to convince those around her that Sam really did

exist. It'd be a tough struggle, but it's one that Denzel does in just

about every film he's ever made, so it's not impossible. The Forgotten,

however, takes us on a very different journey. One that I'm not going to

talk about in detail here, lest I ruin any surprises. I will say this: I

jumped out of my seat three times. Maybe it was because I wasn't expecting

The Forgotten to offer the jumpy. The film also includes what might be the

greatest and most unexpected disappearance of a black character since that

shark gobbled up Samuel L. Jackson in Deep Blue Sea.

The Forgotten might play better if you have kids, or you're the kind of

jackal who dresses your pets in cute little outfits. I fall into neither

category, and felt kind of blah about the movie.

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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1322411
X-RT-TitleID: 1136694
X-RT-SourceID: 595
X-RT-AuthorID: 1146
X-RT-RatingText: 5/10

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