Saw the film tonight. I was bowled over. I had avoided almost everything about in print - first because the film didn't appeal to me because Willis is rarely in a good film, and then because I heard there was a twist ending. But I didn't spot the twist. I was predicting that Malcolm's wife would kill herself, and Malcolm would say hi goodbyes and apologies via Cole, and setting the ending up for Malcolm to marry Cole's mom, in nice tidy Hollywood fashion.
I wasn't expecting this film. I was expecting something like Seven, or The Exorcist. What I got was an incredibly draining and involving drama. I teared up several times during the film (becoming a daddy has made me a lot more sentimental), and I found myself tearing up again on the way home, when I thought about how the ending completely re-interpreted the scenes with the wife. The woman went to the restaurant where he proposed, all by herself, on their anniversary. She was fighting off a relationship with a co-worker out of loyalty. The complete change in her character from a cold adultress to a loyal, grief stricken woman, caused by the revelation of Malcolm's death, is a stunning bit of screenwriting.
I also don't think that enough attention has been paid to the counseling theme of the film. Cole isn't supposed to be cured. He has instead become a psychiatrist to the dead, and has learned by Malcolm's example. I think the film makes Cole a heroic figure, rather than a tragic one who has to put up with ghosts for the rest of his life.
And there has been waaaay too much nitpicking. Very little in the film violates its own internal logic (the most egregious one I noticed hasn't been mentioned, but I won't bring it up because I refuse to add more fuel to the fire - unless Simon begs, like the dog he is, for me to tell him).
My only real gripe has been mentioned previously, but hasn't been generalized. The film has absolutely shitty exposition. From the opening dialogue where the wife reads from the award, to the videotape which proves the guilt of the mom, and to Cole's nice summary at the end, the film is inept in its exposition. But given the strength of the writing elsewhere, I won't hold it too badly against the film.
Wonderful movie. Sure to be in my top five for the year, and I will be pulling for the kid at Oscar nom time.
