The Forgotten
So last night I went out to get some beers with a friend of mine and for whatever reason we decided to go see a movie. We just didn't know what to see. Shark Tale smells like a fish market, the only way I think I'd enjoy Ladder 49 was if it was dubbed in Japanese, and if you see Wimbledon you have to leave your nuts out in the lobby. So it came down to The Forgotten. We picked up a couple 16 ouncers and headed on in for a 10:25 show. After wading through a bunch of previews (I don't remember any of them-- especially 'Spanglish') we cracked the beers and the movie started up.
Right off the bat something was wrong with the movie. Even the opening credits which ran over overhead shots of Brooklyn made me totally nauseous. Something about the way the camera swooped around was crooked and shaky and bad. Before long, this movie revealed itself to be a trainwreck of the highest disorder. Acting, plot, direction, dialogue, twists. Everything was wayyyy off-- so friggin off that it was friggin funny and I laughed at it.. Not with it... at it. And after a bit of time I realized something.. I was laughing alot. Everything was so beyond ridiculous and that there was almost a greatness to this movie. Like a trainwreck that doesn't simply go off the tracks and fall over on its side and lays there smoking. We're talking about a train with no brakes that's careening toward the friggin station like Silverstreak. No breaks. No control. Whistle blaring. And it speeds right into the station past the platform and smashing through the backwall giving off a plume of concrete chunks and dust and it keeps going right through the whole station past the commuters, whistle still blaring, through the ticket windows and out the back of the station then into the parking lot smashing through and over cars, then skidding across the street and crashing halfway through a toy store causing an explosion of colorful toys-- after a minute a stunned engineer emerges from the wreck and stands there in his freshly pee-stained pants and a squeaky toy bounces off his head. That kind of trainwreck...
At times I was in awe of this movie (yeah maybe being half-drunk might have attributed to my fondness for this movie but I honestly think I wouldve like it no matter what). My mouth often hung open at this spectacle of wrongness. It had an utter disregard for coherence and rules that make a movie good and it was riddled with moments of unintentional hilarity. Everyone and everything was ridiculous at such a high level that this movie completely crossed over to be truly entertaining. Julianne Moore did her altered-state glassy eyed schtick and I dug it. She was terrible! Other side characters Anthony Edwards, Gary Sinise, Alfre Woodard all were equally awful. None of em had a chance. Most of the dialogue was impossible to say in any sort of convincing way. It almost seemed like they were mocking their own lines at times.
Anyway, the story of the movie was Julianne Moore had a kid who died in a planecrash and she can't get over it. Little by little the son's memory starts to fade from reality. He disappears from photographs, her husband denies the son ever existed, she struggles with her sanity... and hilarity ensues! Soon it becomes apparent that there's a grand conspiracy against her or something. But who is doing it? For what? For why? All those questions get answered in such a ridiculously fitting way for this movie that it doesn't disappoint. You might think that I'm joking about this flick- but I'm not. I liked watching this movie from beginning to end and I walked home last night shaking my head- happily stunned by the reality of that reality.
Three Good Things About This Movie
- It felt somewhat like an unprecedented disaster.
- It had some decently good shocking moments (that were still funny)
- I felt a little crazy for liking it.
Three Bad Things About This Movie
- Occasionally I'd catch a glimmer of the good movie that may have existed at
one time.
- I get the feeling after I see this movie again I'll be horrified that I
thought there was anything good about it.
- There's no way the filmmakers were aware that they were making something that
was good. So they don't deserve the extra credit in a way.
All in all it seems right now that there is worthwhile in the theaters but I'm willing to stand by The Forgotten as a spectacle to be seen. I believe it's one of the funniest movies of the year if watched in the right way.... The wrong way! Get some beers and go stare at this thing!