The Forgotten (2004)

Overall rating from 1 to 100: 59

O Masterpiece (95-100)
O Excellent (75-94)
O Good video rental (60-74)
X Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don't watch (1-29)

Review by Jason Pyles / April 28, 2007

“The Forgotten” is a science-fiction mystery about the boundless power of a mother’s love. The movie goes from intriguing, to touching, to way out in left field.

Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) sees a shrink. She has to. She’s a grieving mother who is unspeakably devastated over the loss of her nine-year-old son who died in a plane crash 14 months ago. We see her weep as she stares at photographs, home videos and revels in happy memories of her little boy, Sam (Christopher Kovaleski).

Dr. Munce (Gary Sinise) is visibly worried about Telly, as is her husband, Jim (Anthony Edwards). We quickly share their grave concern when we learn that the photo albums she had been revisiting were empty all along. And the home videos were blank.

The good doctor and her patient husband try to remind Telly that her son, Sam, never existed. Their explanations are quite upsetting for her.

But Telly is still convinced otherwise, despite her inability to find those familiar plane-crash headlines in newspapers at the library.

The distraught mother has an alcoholic acquaintance, Ash Correll (Dominic West), who also had a child die in that same plane crash. But Ash doesn’t remember his daughter ... at first.

That is all I can tell. But as you can see, the premise is interesting. Unfortunately, the movie has trouble maintaining this level of spellbinding fascination, as it leads down bizarre paths of explanation.

Much like “From Dusk Till Dawn” (1996), which I saw in a previous life, “The Forgotten” begins as one movie and turns out to be quite another.

The DVD gives us two options for the movie’s ending: the original, theatrical-release version and an alternate ending version. As a movie critic, I watched both (of course) that I might recommend the better choice. Most people (and apparently test audiences) will prefer the original theatrical ending. But science-fiction purists (those who appreciate films like “Contact” (1997) and 1968’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”) will tend to favor the alternate ending. Both are similar.

I wish more films would explore the strength and depths of a mother’s love. I salute “The Forgotten” for addressing this theme; I only wish it would have forgotten its writer’s whimsical inclinations.

Directed by Joseph Ruben
Julianne Moore / Dominic West / Gary Sinise
91 min. Mystery / Sci-Fi
MPAA: PG-13 (for intense thematic material, some violence and brief language)

Copyright 2007.
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