Cartman's 2-Minute Movie review
Friday night I finally went and watched "Sixth Sense".
The concept of the movie was interesting, but I had a bit of a
problem with the resolution of what the kid ends up doing with
his ability (though, to be fair, offhand I can't say as I can
think of a better way to resolve it).
SPOILERS
Considering that the kid had basically a 24/7 ability, making
him into a sort of psychic shrink seems like it would be just as
disruptive as the original problem.
The twist ending was pretty good, but not wholly unexpected.
The circumstances of the relationship between Willis and Osment
are pretty hinky from the get-go, but the movie does manage to
negotiate those things without giving it away.
Probably the only part that really rubbed me the wrong way was
the discovery of the poisoning of the "cancer girl".
The whole videotape scene was a pretty cheap setup; I mean, if
you're poisoning your kid, do you prepare the food, bring it to
the kid's room, and then dump the Pine-Sol (or whatever it
was) in? Or do you do it in the kitchen, where you just add it as
part of the food preparation?
Still, a minor beef in what was a uniformly excellent
performance by the entire cast. Osment, as everyone has already
noted, is amazing, and Willis is very good as well. The biggest
surprise to me was former New Kids on the Block lead dork, Donnie
Wahlberg, who put in a very solid performance in the beginning of
the film as Willis' unhinged patient.
The script and editing could have stood a touch-up here and
there, but all in all, a very good movie.
The payoff was there at the end; it was nice to finally
realize that what I was thinking were errors in plot development,
characterization, and editing were actually clues. The "shrink
meeting up with the kid in the middle of the street" was a
big one of course, plus the notion that the kid's family could
even afford a shrink, much less one that makes house calls.
Also, the mother never addressing or mentioning the shrink.
But the movie did do a very good job of negotiating all those
things without really giving anything away. And the kid is just
compelling anyway. Before you can start adding up all the weird
shit, he gets involved in a scary scene that makes you forget the
other stuff for a while.
