Movie Review: The Forgotten

The Forgotten

Despite being on vacation, I wasn't about to miss my usual weekend movie. I almost did, though, because the friend I was staying with didn't agree with my choice of films. I'd seen the previews for The Forgotten, and it looked scary. I love scary movies. My friend, on the other hand, really wanted to see a comedy, the available selection of which didn't thrill me. In the end, I convinced her that The Forgotten might be good. As it turned out, she got to see her comedy after all.

The Forgotten references the dead child Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) is finding it impossible to leave behind. Her grief, after more than a year, is still fresh. She spends hours every day looking at photos of her son and handling his baseball glove and other personal items she's saved; she watches video tapes of the boy and cries. Her husband, Jim (Anthony Edwards), gently tries to persuade her that it's time to move on, and so does her psychiatrist, Dr. Munce (Gary Sinise). She, on the other hand, is finding it difficult to understand how others can't accept that a mother might not simply be able to get past such a trauma.

One morning, Telly wakes up to find a family photo altered to eliminate her son, Sam. She rushes to his room only to find the keepsakes gone and the photo albums filled with empty pages. With shaking hands, she inserts a video cassette that proves to have been erased. Incensed that her husband would do such a thing—who else could have done it?—she confronts him and is stunned to learn from her husband and her psychiatrist that she's never had a child and that the disppearance of the "evidence" of the boy is a sign that her mind is finally beginning its journey back toward sanity. Telly can't believe that such vivid memories could be manufactured, and she runs to the home of Ash Correll (Dominic West), a man she remembers as having a daughter that often played with her son. Ash insists he's never had a child either, but after Telly confronts him with some hard questions, he claims that he, too, now remembers a child who is dead.

With that, Telly and Ash are off to solve the apparent mystery behind the disappearance of children who may—or may not—be figments of their imaginations. In the process, they risk arrest by the police detective (Alfre Woodard) looking to catch the pair, and grave danger from men with their own agenda connected to the circumstances.

Julianne Moore is, as always, wonderful. Her pain is obvious; her confusion palpable; and her courage unquestionable. Each emotion is conveyed subtly or overtly as required, and is never too much or too little. Gary Sinise is understated in his role as the calming psychiatrist, but that suits his character; Dominic West could have been a little less melodramatic at times, but is still quite good. Anthony Edwards is adequate (though to be fair, I'm not much of an Edwards fan); Alfre Woodard is just fine in a limited appearance. Unfortunately, it's the writers and filmmakers who take what should have been, and turn it into what it was: the comedy my friend so wanted to see.

There are obvious errors of continuity (in one scene, Telly and Ash are inside the living room of a house in the afternoon; she goes upstairs while he goes into the kitchen, and as the camera follows Ash into the next room, it's suddenly dark outside and he's carrying a flashlight). Though the story is a mystery, so little is explained or resolved that the movie feels as if it stops somewhere in the middle and is thus quite unsatisfactory in the end. In fact, there's so little explained in other segments of the too-thin plot that the movie loses credibility and thus its fear factor fairly early on. And though there are unquestionably some jump-out-of-your-seat moments in the film, some of what are intended to be the movie's most frightening scenes bear an unfortunate and strong resemblence to the bridge skit from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail (if you've never seen that movie, you won't get the joke; if you have, you won't be able to stop laughing during the scenes in question).

In short, The Forgotten is probably best, well, forgotten. Despite some quality performances and good production values, it's just not worth the let down of the apparently unfinished (or poorly realized) storyline.

POLITICAL NOTES: Part of the mystery of The Forgotten involves the standard conspiracy theory of a government agency attempting to hide things from ordinary citizens. Certainly, this happens (though I can't imagine the agents involved being quite as bumbling as are the men in the movie). It's too bad it happens so unbelievably in The Forgotten since it could otherwise have proved to score a few points toward showing such things less a conspiracy than an unfortunate truth. Instead, it emphasizes the silliness of even imagining the government would do such a thing (and no, I won't say a word about those far more paranoid conspiracy theories involving Hollywood and "hidden" government propaganda within movies).

FAMILY SUITABILITY: The Forgotten is rated PG-13 for "intense thematic material, some violence and brief language." That rating is probably just about right since those under 13 might think some of the more comedic moments are actually kind of scary; little ones won't be able to follow the storyline, either. On the other hand, older and more mature audiences probably won't be appreciative of the storyline themselves. The Forgotten, if you insist on remembering it, is probably best a rental for adults on a winter afternoon or evening, and served with more than one glass of wine.