Year:
2000
Studio:
Paramount Classics/
Lakeshore Entertainment
Movie:
3/5
DVD:
1/5
The Gift is a
thriller with lots of recognizable actors playing a bunch of
southerners. The main character is Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett), a
widow and mother of three kids who is partly psychic. A poor woman
living in a poor town, she mainly caters to the local negroes and some
housewives.
One housewife is Valrie Barksdale (Hilary Swank) who is mortally afraid
of her abusive husband and yet is also afraid of leaving him.
Eventually the husband, Donnie (Keanu Reeves), finds out and confronts
Annie, then harassing her and her kids. Another person is Buddy Cole
(Givanni Ribisi), a troubled young man, a little slow and yet means
well. He has a dark secret that even he doesn't know about.
There are also other non-clients like Annie's friend Linda (Kim
Dickens), her son's school teacher, Wayne Collins (Greg Kinnear) and
his bride to be Jessica King (Katie Holmes). And we have more actors
like Gary Cole playing district attorney David Duncan, Rosemary Harris
(i.e. May Parker) playing Annie's dead Grandmother, and JK Simmons
playing Sheriff Pearl Johnson.
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In any case,
Jessica turns up missing and the family goes to Annie for help. Of
course, once they find the body it's a matter of who killed her and
why. It's not a mystery because I don't think there are enough clues to
guess who is the killer.
The movie is a period/mood piece with good actors doing good acting.
The whole thriller part of the plot wasn't all that thrilling. The real
killer is kind of predictable, though there were some good surprise
candidates. And the whole resolution is one of those Twilight Zone
endings that kind of falls flat. But it's not a bad movie. And you do
get to see Katie Holmes topless -- always a plus.
The DVD has little extra. There is a 11-minute behind-the-scenes
featurette and a music video.
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