2 stars

Not bad enough to 'Abandon' but not good enough to send you running to the theater, this show is just an average drama with an above-average cast.

Cutie-pie Katie (Katie Holmes, 'Go') is almost ready to graduate from college. She seems to have everything going for her now that she has a chance for a bright future with a prestigious company.

But detective Wade (Benjamin Bratt, 'Miss Congeniality') keeps turning up to ruin her concentration on her thesis. Wad is investigating just what happened to Embry (Charlie Hunnam, television’s 'Queer as Folk'), Katie’s old boyfriend who disappeared two years ago. Suddenly, Katie sees glimpse of Embry -- well, maybe -- and she thinks that Embry has come back to haunt her for some reason, whether he‘s dead or alive.

Embry was wealthy, but he seemed to sneer at his family’s money. As he continued to vent his creativity in avant garde productions he also began to sneer at his audience...and then to vanish, leaving only a couple of plane tickets behind.

Holmes does a nice job at creating sympathy in the young woman who literally has been abandoned by almost everyone she respects or loves. She has a dewy-eyed vulnerability but a no-nonsense approach that seems realistic under the circumstances. Bratt is fine as the police officer who is battling demons of his own and who wants to protect this vulnerable young woman who has crossed his path. Zooey Deschanel steals every scene in which she appears as the best of Katie. This pal knows that Katie hasn’t always had it easy; still, she’s more than a bit jealous and taken aback by the people who want to 'rescue' Katie, as is yet another female college student who studies Katie from afar.

The major problem with 'Abandon' is that there’s supposed to be this big 'twist' at the end. Few people aren’t going to figure this out long, long beforehand. That makes the movie ’way too long and the end, at best, unsatisfying. You’ll be thinking: 'Yes, I knew that all along. Now what is the big surprise supposed to be?'

The movie doesn’t know whether it wants to be a thriller with a wowser finale or a character study. That makes is a just-OK offering that’s likely to be abandoned to the video shelf soon.


Running time: Ninety minutes.

Rated: PG-13 for foul language, violence and sexual situations.

Stars: Katie Holmes, Benjamin Bratt, Charlie Hunnam, Zooey Deschanel, Melanie Lynsky
Director and screenwriter: Stephen Gaghan.