Cate Blanchett and Keanu Reeves in "The Gift."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Cate Blanchett, Katie Holmes, Keanu Reeves, Giovanni Ribisi and Greg Kinnear Director: Sam Raimi Rated: R, with violence, profanity and nudity Length: 110 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(January 19, 2000) -- Your enjoyment of Sam Raimi's new swamp thriller, The Gift depends heavily on a) your tolerance for voodoo weirdos, redneck wackos and Southern Gothic goofballs; and b) your acceptance of the paranormal as the key to the plot.

Even if you fall short there, you might be impressed by the class that actress Cate Blanchett lends to the lead role, or Keanu Reeves' powerful performance as a slimy, violent villain.

Otherwise, this fright-flick gumbo is spiced too heavily with melodramatic actions, some improbable situations, an ultimately predictable outcome and dependence on at least two suspense movie cliches -- untimely thunder and an overflowing bathtub.

The Gift is based on an early script by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson, from the years before Thornton hit it big with Sling Blade.

As with Raimi's more sucessful A Simple Plan, The Gift challenges the director to blend his traditional horror-movie talent (seen in the Evil Dead films) with more conventional, character-driven drama.

The Gift of the title is Annie Wilson's (Blanchett) ability to use psychic powers to predict events, solve crimes and occasionally "see dead people" (in the parlance of a far-better psychic thriller).

Annie is a widow with three children who gives readings and tells fortunes in her clapboard home in a rustic bayou community outside Savannah, Ga.

Soon she becomes involved in the hunt for a missing woman (Katie Holmes), the sexy, flirtatious fiance of the local school principal (Greg Kinnear).

Other neighbors are in the mix, including Valerie Barksdale (Hilary Swank), the fragile wife of the brutal Donnie Barksdale (Keanu Reeves); and Buddy Cole (Giovanni Ribisi), a mentally disturbed gas-station attendant whom Annie tries to help with readings.

A murder and a trial soon follow, and then we must endure our heroine under threat on what can only be called "a dark and stormy night." And though the murderer's identity is too obvious, Raimi and his writers deliver a clever, metaphysical twist to conclude the up-and-down enterprise.

Blanchett's Australian roots rarely surface through her generally credible Southern accent. Ultimately, the actress impresses with a balance of vulnerability and strength -- and makes us understand that Annie doesn't always consider her "gift" such a treat.

Reeves, meanwhile, is believable and scary as the hard-headed, redneck wife-beater, while Holmes effectively teases us as the town sexpot.

Ribisi has less luck as the demented Buddy Cole, though the actor is saddled with an overly flamboyant wacko, a Southern Gothic character who wears down the plot like Spanish moss on a magnolia branch.