Best Picture?  No, but a good one

reviewed Sun, 20 Feb 2000

Well, I finally succumbed to the zeitgeist and my compulsive need to see all the movies nominated for Best Picture and saw The Sixth Sense.  I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.  I'd have liked it even better if I had seen it before it became an event, before "I see dead people" became a punch line (I swear I still hear it in Ralph Wiggum's voice, which doesn't help matters -- it's become one of those lines like "Dingo et my baby" that's so well-worn that, no matter how grave the context in which you hear it in the movie, it still provokes giggles) and if I hadn't already known the twist ending (entirely my own fault; I didn't think I'd ever see the movie, so I didn't avoid hearing about it).  I think I might also have been even more critical than usual because I just finished reading a fantastic book by director Cameron Crowe of his conversations with legendary director Billy Wilder, and a lot of Wilder's comments on movie-making and script writing stuck with me.  So I noticed a lot of relatively minor flaws, like small failures of internal logic, clumsy dialogue, or unnecessary camera angles, and I spent more time than usual thinking about how I would remedy them.

But overall, I did enjoy the movie.  Haley Joel Osment is very good as Cole, the boy who sees... well, you know.  But the real surprise was Bruce Willis as the child psychologist who helps him (as one reviewer put it, for once he doesn't play a man who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time).  This is probably his most restrained, quietest role, and he's really quite good.  Without his usual smirking sarcasm, Willis effortlessly projects the character's compassion, kindness -- and sadness.  I find psychologists (and, oddly enough, architects -- that one I really don't understand) very sexy, and this is the first time I've ever thought Willis attractive.  Oh, and the nearly naked crazy guy at the beginning?  Did any of you realize that was Donnie Wahlberg, former New Kid on the Block?  Golly!  What a "where are they now?" moment!

I also thought the reveal of the big twist ending was done in a nicely understated manner, a lot like the reveal in The Usual Suspects -- no abrupt, bald statement, but rather a series of little clues that build up in a rush.  Of course, knowing the twist, I was watching the movie with an eye toward internal consistency with that twist, and it pretty much holds up.  The film maintains a pretty consistent level of tension and eerieness throughout, though it unnecessarily throws in a few startling shots to make you jump in your seat.  It was too heavy-handed in parts and could have toned down the musical cues, both scary and schmaltzy.  And I can see this turning into a really bad hour-long dramatic series, probably on Fox or maybe the WB, where Cole becomes a private investigator/therapist for dead people (did anyone else worry that this kid was pretty much condemned to a life of listening to dead people's complaints and trying to find justice for them?  As Tiffany and I established in our discussion after Stir of Echoes, there's nothing wrong with dead people wanting justice, but it's a bit unfair -- and probably not very effective -- to bug a little kid to avenge you).

Having seen the movie doesn't change my opinion that it's generally not an Oscar-quality movie, but I enjoyed it, I'm glad I saw it, and I won't be sneering anymore when I talk about it.

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