The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.
Hide and seek
Ready or not...
By [All_Most PUNK]
The story: Kids can be that way. They are imaginative, like to play and are always looking for new friends and games. Of course, sometimes what they find instead are imaginary friends. These are something pretty common, so there’s nothing to worry about when the little one of the house says that she has one. Of course, if the imaginary friend turns out to be a first class psychopath, then maybe we should re-evaluate our opinion.
When Dr. Callaway’s wife commits suicide, cutting her veins on the bathtub and in front of her daughter, moving to the country seems like a good idea. After all, fresh air and being away from the city’s general craziness can help little Emily a lot.
But when soon after arriving, Emily starts playing with her new friend Charlie (who has the characteristic of being invisible, apparently), Callaway can’t help but feeling a little worried. After all, killing animals and writing with blood isn’t so sane. And, maybe, playing hide and seek is even less healthy... at least for the people around the two of them.
The Good points: There’s something that has to been said about De Niro. He’s a holy cow. He can’t be touched. And he won’t be offered lousy parts in lousy movies, in general. His presence should be something of a guarantee for a movie. We know that if he’s there, at least we won’t find many errors on the script or a director that doesn’t know which side of the camera should be pointed in the direction of the actors (not that that is their function, but anyway).
Also, Dakota Fanning is making a name on the industry, after working with Spielberg himself in “Taken”. And she’s doing so by playing her parts in a pretty convincing way.
In general lines, the acting isn’t amazing, but it’s pretty effective to develop a script that is solid in most of its aspects. Well written, with a little twist at the end that works and not too slow, it accomplishes its mission. But...
The Bad Points: ... it isn’t really as deep as it could be. Okay, it has everything it needs and you won’t be disappointed, but the truth is that it could have even more. It could play a little more with the doubts about Charlie’s existence, with the possible suspects of being Charlie, with the fear that Emily feels, with the way Callaway’s life has changed. Also, there are a couple not very logical attitudes on some characters that add to the general feeling of uneasiness, but that make no sense when everything is said and done. Or, better said, make sense but with really lame explanations.
Famke Janssen, as usual, is a little on the inexpressive side of the road. Maybe she always has to play the part of cold and not in touch with their emotions women, but when you are being chased by a psychopath... well, I think you would at least show some fear.
Best Moment: Two very small moments, both on Emily’s room. In one, Elisabeth Shue (who plays De Niro’s new “friend” Elizabeth) takes her niece to play with Emily. I don’t think she will like dolls so much after that small but disturbing experience.
And later, Charlie decides to play some hide and seek. Emily counts, but it’s Elizabeth who has to look for the imaginary friend. And the game doesn’t end like usual. I’m just glad I never had to play with a player as aggressive as Charlie.
Stupidest moment: Noises at the door, in the middle of the night. Since the tension is already near cloud’s level, Callaway opens with some nervousness and bumps into the guy who sold him the house. “What are you doing?”, “Leaving these keys I didn’t give you”, “In the middle of the night?”, “Tomorrow morning I’m leaving. I’ll go to Canada”. The only intention for this little interchange is to make us a little more jumpy and think that maybe... but the truth is that it makes no sense, isn’t natural and dies there. Same happens with a confrontation between Callaway and the sheriff.
All in All: Be careful when it’s your turn to seek, and choose well the place where you hide.
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