There have been an alarming number of films recently that have existed as life-support machines for their twist endings (M. Night Shyamalan, I'm talking to you). This is a risky maneuver, because audiences are increasingly fickle and adept at sniffing out the conclusion. If the twist is easy to guess, logically incompetent, stupid, etc. (insert flaw here), the entire film that has been relying on it will collapse beneath its own weight. The latest addition to the twisty psychological thriller genre, \The Forgotten,"" contains a twist that is undoubtedly audacious but also amazingly, exceptionally idiotic. As a result, any goodwill or curiosity that had been sustained comes crashing down.
Julianne Moore plays Telly, an emotionally shattered woman whose 8-year old boy had been killed in a terrible plane crash. She spends her days reliving precious memories of the tyke by watching home movies and perusing photographs, in between meetings with her compassionate shrink (Gary Sinese). One day, her whole world is thrown into a tizzy when everyone else seems to have no recollection of her son (including her husband), and all records of his existence have vanished. Telly turns to a boozy neighbor (Dominic West), whose daughter was also killed in the plane crash, for help, but even he seems to have forgotten about his daughter and her son. Since this is a characteristically clandestine twist film, there aren't too many additional details that can be revealed, as they are potentially ""spoilers."" What can be revealed, however, is that the remainder of ""The Forgotten"" contains government conspiracy, people being mysteriously sucked off the planet and the most heavy-handed, cheesy, insulting conclusion since Shyamalan's own ""The Village.""
Certified schlockmeister Joseph Ruben hasn't directed a film in seven years, and by the looks of this turkey, he won't be hired for another one in this decade. He employs routine direction, bland performances, standard dispersion of cheap shocks, and a overbearing James Horner score that always distracts from the proceedings. Screenwriter Gerald Di Pago has crafted an intriguing premise that quickly disintegrates as the plot thickens, piling on ludicrous detail after ludicrous detail. In fact, it cribs so much off of ""The X-Files"" that one half-heartedly expects the Cigarette Smoking Man to show up brandishing cancer sticks and attitude while Moore frantically runs from the government.
The cast thuds through their clunky characters. Julianne Moore, one of the silver screen's most consistently underappreciated outstanding actresses (watch ""Far From Heaven"" and ""Boogie Nights"" back to back for uncontestable proof), is trapped by lazy writing and one-dimensional histrionics. West fails to make an impression, as does Sinese in playing a stock clich??, audience members might unenthusiastically note that ""Lieutenant Dan"" is in this movie. And Alfre Woodard is similarly confined by an underwritten, generic tough cop role that effectively wastes her talents as well.
But, what makes takes this movie beyond mainstream mediocrity is its shameful, utterly senseless ""shocking twist"" conclusion. The last 15 minutes of this movie feel as if M. Night and Oprah got together to doctor the script in the midst of a fiendish crack binge, as it plumbs the depths of cinematic sappiness and misguided idiocy. If you like to be strung along for nearly two hours only to be betrayed by an absurd, astronomically bad grand finale, by all means rush out and see ""The Forgotten.""
