The Gift (2000)
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 117
Fresh: 66 | Rotten: 51
With a reported budget of around 10 million, The Gift is obviously a labor of love for those involved. Unfortunately, the A-list cast can't prevent the movie from becoming a by-the-numbers whodunit with an ending that's all but unsatisfactory.
Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 12
With a reported budget of around 10 million, The Gift is obviously a labor of love for those involved. Unfortunately, the A-list cast can't prevent the movie from becoming a by-the-numbers whodunit with an ending that's all but unsatisfactory.
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Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 49,924
Movie Info
Supernatural horror meets character drama in this Sam Raimi-directed thriller. Set in Georgia, the film concerns a widowed mother named Annie (Cate Blanchett) who is blessed with the ability to have psychic visions. When Annie is asked to use her powers to investigate the murder of a rich society girl (Katie Holmes) who was engaged to a local high school principal (Greg Kinnear), she finds her "gift" is as destructive as it is helpful. Many of the townspeople have mixed regard for Annie's
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Cast
-
Cate Blanchett
Annie Wilson -
Giovanni Ribisi
Buddy Cole -
Keanu Reeves
Donnie Barksdale -
Katie Holmes
Jessica King -
Greg Kinnear
Wayne Collins -
Hilary Swank
Valerie Barksdale -
Michael Jeter
Gerald Weems -
Kim Dickens
Linda -
Gary Cole
David Duncan -
Rosemary Harris
Annie's Granny -
J.K. Simmons
Sheriff Pearl Johnson -
Chelcie Ross
Kenneth King -
John Beasley
Albert Hawkins
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The Gift Trailer & Photos
All Critics (137) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (66) | Rotten (51) | DVD (22)
There's really just one reason to see the Southern freak show that is Sam Raimi's The Gift, and fortunately it's the best reason: to watch the star of the piece.
Top CriticA glorious textbook example of a gifted film maker's ability to transform a familiar genre and, thrillingly, to confound our expectations in the process.
Raimi's latest picture, The Gift, looks like an attempt to create a classier version of the kind of horror movie that established his reputation nearly two decades ago.
It's like a play that's been 'opened up' for the screen, expanded and filmed on real locations but retaining all of the carefully worded stage dialogue. It never sounds 'real,' and I suppose that's the point.
Uneven and conventional.
like going to the county fair and getting ripped off by the traveling sideshows
A superior horror movie for older teens.
Who would have thought Sam Raimi could have made a film in which the dead are harmless, even helpful?
Failing to deliver as a suspenser, The Gift relies heavily on its name cast, particularly Cate Blanchette, which elevates the old-fashioned yarn to a more serious patina.
Un mediano intento de sorprendernos.
Stilted, obvious, and cruel... No longer an absurdist of gore, Raimi is now a reveler in it.
One of the strongest parts in question is the central performance of Cate Blanchett.
...not too bad in a gothic whodunit kind of way
Once the story chooses its path, a glance downward reveals the ruts worn by the many plot vehicles that have traveled this road before.
This is one of the best films about the supernatural that has come out in recent years, along with "The Others," and "The Sixth Sense.'
Brimming with gentility, quiet sadness and weary perseverance, Blanchett's mesmerizing Annie brings to mind the sturdy, often lonely women Sissy Spacek created in movies like "Raggedy Man" and "Marie."
Um filme previsível tanto em relação à sua trama quanto aos seus aspectos técnicos.
In lesser hands, this film would have been pretty bad.
Thoughtful and gripping without wallowing in dramatics, it marks another high point in Sam Raimi's strange, but increasingly accomplished film career.
While the Katie Holmes fans have a definite reason to see this movie, everyone else will be bored by a competent but unoriginal supernatural mystery.
This whodunit had many contrivances and they all sapped strength from the film's already rather weak mystery story.
...If I was finally let down by the resolution of The Gift's central mystery, I felt lucky to have had Blanchett, Reeves, and, especially, Ribisi, as escorts.
It's a good story with unexpected and even almost shocking plot twists, and a whole film of very, very good performances.
..a richly textured psychological occult tale of desolation and troubled lives in backwoods Georgia.
An overwrought, cornpone, Southern-gothic "Twilight Zone" padded to feature length.
Audience Reviews for The Gift
There is something of an emotional commitment brought to the storyline by the characters in this film, which really comes across well on screen. All in all it is a decent (greatly underrated) film, one that I have watched time and time again.
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| I Love This Movie!!!! | 3 months ago | 0 |
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Movie: ID: 13522 Title: The Gift Release Date: 2000-12-20 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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To call this a horror film might be wrong assumption. There is actually very little horror and much more mystery, character based drama and supernatural elements at work here. Cate Blanchett is fantastic as a Annie who has a reputation of local witch and one who can see visions. There are interesting elements and many interesting characters here but nothing that would leave an lasting impression.
This is all awfully familiar stuff and leaves feel of deja vu after it's over. Without Blanchett's performance this would be nothing more than a flat and forgettable thriller with few horror elements and nice milieu accompanied by suitable score by Christopher Young.