"The Forgotten" Review

The Forgotten--1 and a half out of 5 stars

This is such a stupid movie. Almost everything about it was just...stupid! I can't think of a better word to describe it. I think the DVD was literally just a thin disc of rotting cheese.

There are several really good actors in this movie, but it seems to me that they just took the day off to help out an untalented middle school student with a film project that not even his fellow students would like.

The terrible acting is apparent almost immediately. All the supporting actors just look bored, spouting out ridiculous dialogue that must have been written by a fifth grader, while Julianne Moore spends all her time crying and looking distressed. I didn't feel any of her "pain" though. After the first 15 minutes, I seriously just wanted all the characters to shut up, and for the end credits to start rolling. Even though the movie is only 91 minutes long, it actually felt way too long to me. Somehow, it felt painfully dragged out. I've had more fun in hospital waiting rooms than I did watching this.

The story and directing, however, are the film's biggest faults. I won't reveal the main point of the film simply because it's just too stupid to mention. But there are many things that just didn't make sense. Take, for example, a scene where two characters suddenly get sideswiped by a very fast-moving car. It actually looked really good, and provided decent shock value until these two characters just walked out of the car and started running around as if nothing happened. It was as if they were just vaguely aware that they didn't have a car anymore, and just thought, "Well, thank goodness we still have legs."

With the low-quality acting, dialogue, and many more scenes like the one I just mentioned, this really felt like a made-for-TV movie that you'd see late at night on the Sci-Fi Channel. If I don't want to watch a movie like that for free, I certainly don't want to pay for one. It only cost 50 cents, but darn it, I want those two quarters back!