There is overpraise, there is a massive overpraise and there is the way protagonists of 2004 comedy Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle described their favourite film. The Gift, 2000 thriller directed by Sam Raimi, was due to relatively small, but for certain viewing demographic rather significant, detail was described as “opposite of Holocaust”.
The plot takes place in Brixton, small town in Georgia where most citizens live on welfare. This isn’t enough for protagonist, widowed mother Annie Wilson (played by Cate Blanchett), to support her three sons, so she make ends meet as psychic. Although she inherited clairvoyance from her late grandmother, she rarely uses her gift and instead prefers giving common sense advice to her clients. She tells Valerie Barksdale (played by Hilary Swank) to leave her abusive husband Donnie (played by Keanu Reeves), after which he begins threatening Annie. In the meantime, Brixton is rattled with disappearance of Jessica King (played by Katie Holmes), daughter of Kenneth King (played by Chelcie Ross), the most powerful man in town, and fiancee of high school principal Wayne Collins (played by Greg Kinnear). After unsuccessful attempts to find her by conventional methods, Sheriff Pearl Johnson (played by J.K. Simmons) reluctantly seeks Annie’s help. She is at first unable to do, but her visions would gradually lead to shocking discovery that would put her own life in danger.
The Gift, which combines conventional crime plot with supernatural elements, isn’t anything special or particularly original. Similar formula was used in many, usually low quality, episodes of The X-Files as well as Zemeckis’ What Lies Beneath. The script, co-written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson, however, enhanced the formula by giving it specifically Southern flavour and making the film one of rare Hollywood depictions of rural, underdeveloped and impoverished parts of America. Sam Raimi, director who became famous for cult horror comedies, handles somewhat similar but widely different well and one of the scenes features extremely effective creation of suspense, worthy of best thrillers. He had very good and diverse cast at his disposal. Cate Blanchett again proves herself as an expert actress, playing the widow at US South with the same ease she has played Renaissance monarchs and Victorian ladies. Even Keanu Reeves, known for ruining number of films with his wooden acting, is here very good and effective in the role of the villain who is scary because he looks so ordinary. However, the most memorable role, at least if certain part of the male audience is concerned, belongs to Katie Holmes, actress who was, thanks to her role at Dawson’s Creek at the height of popularity and who here displays bare breasts in the scene that would leave such strong impression on protagonists on another film four years later. Despite somewhat overstuffed and partly overcomplicated plot and “whodunnit” mystery which is easy to solve even for more experienced viewers, The Gift still rises above average quality thanks to strong acting and stylish direction and, as such, can be recommended even to viewers who aren’t big fans of Katie Holmes.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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