Debra Messing and Richard Gere in "The Mothman Prophecies."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Richard Gere Director: Mark Pellington Rated: PG-13, with profanity and fright Length: 119 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 25, 2002) -- Richard Gere drives off the highway and deep into X-Files country for The Mothman Prophecies.

It's a modest and messy metaphysical thriller offering more questions than answers.

The film is based on mysterious events that reportedly occurred in Point Pleasant, W.Va., in the mid-'60s, as recounted in a 1975 book by reporter John A. Keel. The book is popular among fans of the paranormal and was an early influence on television's X-Files.

The filmmakers felt free to dramatize and fictionalize aspects of the story, but stopped short of supplying a logical conclusion, as no such conclusion exists in real life.

The resulting film is to alien infestation and prophecy what The Amityville Horror was to satanic thrillers. The "true events" may be hooey, who knows? Still, they're "facts" and aren't to be toyed with. At least, not too much.

Like The Amityville Horror years earlier, The Mothman Prophecies seems restrained, hemmed in and not especially imaginative.

Gere plays a Washington Post reporter whose name is changed here to John Klein. At the film's start, he's involved in a car crash that kills his beloved wife (Debra Messing), who was apparently distracted behind the wheel by an apparition.

Two years later, Klein finds himself in Point Pleasant, developing a story about paranormal activity around the town.

A giant, dark mothlike creature with blazing red eyes has been spotted by a frightened ex-alcoholic (Will Patton), two teens necking on lover's lane and a scared woman.

But instead of talking to people directly, the creature prefers to use the phone, like a determined alien telemarketer.

Various residents get calls from the Mothman, in which he makes dire predictions that too often come true. Soon, Klein starts getting the calls.

He's helped in his investigation by the amiable town cop (Laura Linney), and, more reluctantly, by a veteran writer (Alan Bates), who has chronicled Mothman but has been scared out of the business.

Filmgoers seeking graphic horror -- or even a good look at the creature -- will be disappointed. The Mothman Prophecies aims at a more emotional and cerebral approach -- and maintains the PG-13 rating on its gore-ometer.

Director Mark Pellington never successfully ties his framing device -- the death of Klein's wife -- with the main Point Pleasant story. He also fails to generate the sort of suspense that helped his previous film, Arlington Road, overcome its contrivances.

Gere is an adequate protagonist, playing the confused loner who finds himself in over his head. Linney makes an appealing small-town cop. Together, though, they fail to generate the chemistry that would give the film's finale a much-needed wallop.

Veteran star Bates is much more interesting in his five or 10 minutes on screen as the mysterious and disillusioned Mothman researcher. I found myself wishing the movie was telling his character's story.