Wednesday, March 14, 2007

I liked it better when it was her panties that were missing: "The Forgotten"

Don't pretend you don't think of that scene in "Short Cuts" every time you see Julianne Moore. I don't care how many Oscar noms she has -- four, in case you wondered -- she'll always be the woman who had Matthew Modine all rattled by walking around bottomless. Can you blame him?

Can't say I was interested in "The Forgotten" when it was in theaters. Looked like hokey suspense to me, and the reviews did nothing to change my mind. But with The Person Who Gives My Life All Meaning now controlling the Netflix queue -- thank you, maternity leave -- this somewhat lame movie recently arrived in our mailbox. Junk mail, indeed.

Moore plays a distressed woman whose young son was killed in a plane crash. She's in therapy, of course, but soon notices some weird stuff -- namely, evidence of her son's existence being erased. From his face disappearing in photos to scrapbooks suddenly empty, it's like she never had a son. Hmmm, maybe she didn't. Or maybe she did, but he's now among ... THE FORGOTTEN. (Shiver.)

After her husband (Anthony "Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise" Edwards) and her shrink (Gary "Snake Eyes" Sinise) tells her they never had a son, Moore eventually finds an ally in a man (Dominic West) whose daughter died in the same crash. He doesn't remember at first, but soon they both try to find out why they're the only ones who can't forget about all the poopy diapers, toys stuck in the VCR, keys flushed down the toilet, etc.

This takes them across some NSA agents and a weird, smiling man before they find out the deal, which is ... eh, nothing great. I suppose the lack of detail is necessary to roll with the story, but it also smelled of a cop-out. I'm also a little torn on how troublesome people are disposed of in this movie. It's not bad at first, but then gets a little silly and -- as one poster to an IMDB message board mentioned -- reminiscent of a certain scene in a certain Monty Python movie. (I hate to spoil it, but just make sure you're certain when someone asks what your favorite color is.)

In the end, this could have been worse, but it doesn't have anything to make me recommend it. If only someone had tried to calm down a hysterical Moore by saying, "Now, now ... just keep your pants on."

2 Comments:

At 11:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do you bring up Short Cuts just to spite me? I have trouble getting a couple Julianne Moore scenes from Boogie Nights out of my mind--either the first porn scene (when she's giving Diggler instructions) or the awkward coked up scene with Roller Girl.

The Forgotten was another late-night HBO watch for me. But unlike a few of the decent flicks I wouldn't have watched otherwise (Man on Fire comes to mind), this one was not good. A toss-up between this and Hide and Seek as to which late-night HBO movie made me more anrgy at myself for losing sleep to watch all of it.

 
At 4:36 PM, Blogger Jefferson said...

"My son is dead! He is DEAD! There ARE no more birthdays! GodDAMN you. You BASTARD!"

And the Oscar goes to Andie McDowell ...

 

Post a Comment

<< Home