The Forgotten
The death of a child, no matter under what circumstance, is a traumatic thing. The loss can be so devastating a grieving parent will do anything to hold on to what little piece of the past remains.
Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) is one such parent, a woman trapped in time by the plane crash death of her eight-year-old son Sam fourteen months earlier. Telly is so paralyzed she refuses to move on with her life, distancing friends, family, and even her compassionate psychiatrist.
Then it happens. Slowly at first. Little things, little reminders of Sam start disappearing. His image vanishes from a family portrait. Telly’s husband Jim (Anthony Edwards) looks confused. He doesn’t know what she’s talking about. His explanation is confirmed by psychiatrist Dr. Munce (Gary Sinise, passing time while waiting for CSI: New York script approval), who informs Telly that Sam is a figment of her imagination, a byproduct of a miscarriage which has left her mentally unstable.
Talk about a dose of reality, something The Forgotten rarely provides. Part psychological thriller, part Sci-Fi Mumbo Jumbo, The Forgotten takes a promising premise (say that three times after two Jell-O shots) and grinds it into the ground like a cigarette butt. Julianne Moore, a terrific actress, effectively captures the bleak, inner pain of a woman living on false hope. Moore is often better than the script, carefully crafting a character who can withstand the absurdities of the film’s unraveling third act.
It’s there, when all is said and done, that writer Gerald Di Pego and director Joseph Ruben show their cards, and what they have is a handful of jokers. It’s not that their conclusion comes out of left field, it literally comes out of the sky, and anyone with an ounce of sense left in their brains after overdosing on Milk Duds and Buttered Popcorn will feel betrayed and possibly amused.
Which is a shame, because until the big revelation, The Forgotten feels like a genuine thriller. There’s a decent mystery in Telly’s search for the truth, leading her to another parent (Dominic West) who has undergone the same psychosis. There’s also a great deal of excess baggage, like federal agents whose training obviously never involved chasing down a hot redhead and a drunk.
Ruben, a good director capable of making sturdy thrillers (The Stepfather, Sleeping with the Enemy), manages to squeeze off a couple of starter gun shocks, but for the most part, The Forgotten should be left that way.
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THE FORGOTTEN
Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise, Alfre Woodard, Anthony Edwards. Directed by Joseph Ruben. Rated PG-13.
LARSEN RATING: $2.00
