Good Premise, Good Cast
Yet, Ultimately Forgettable

Friends of mine urged me to see The Forgotten saying that it would appeal to my appreciation of the weird and unexplained. The were right. The entire film is a conspiracy of The X-Files proportions, surrounding lost children, thought control, and a woman's doubts about her own sanity. Unfortunately, as interesting as the film was to me, I doubt that it would appeal to many outside of the hardcore believers in that "truth" that Fox Mulder once proclaimed was "out there."

"Out there" is a good way to describe The Forgotten. Julianne Moore stars as Telly Paretta, a woman who is still recovering from the death of her son Sam. Gone for over a year, Sam still inhabits her world, drawing her deep into a depression that her therapist (Gary Sinise) has been trying to overcome. Her husband Jim (Anthony Edwards) is supporting her with the patience of a saint, and appears to be genuinely concerned by her fixation on Sam.

The story takes an abrupt turn, however, when images of Sam begin to disappear from the house. Family pictures, photo albums, and videotapes are all blank. Telly is convinced that Jim has done something cruel, trying to erase Sam from their lives, but with her therapist's assistance they try to explain that the images were never real because Sam was never real. Their son, like those blank videotapes, were all in her mind.

Questioning her own sanity, Telly talks to her friends -- none of whom remember Sam. When she confronts Ash (Dominic West), a neighbor who had lost his daughter in the same crash that took Sam, he has no memory of Sam or his own daughter. Distraught to the point of madness, Telly begins to search for clues that the past was as she remembers it.

Watching eight seasons of The X-Files has prepared my mind to accept some pretty weird things. Nevertheless, there were a myriad of questions that the film never answered for me. To get into the nitpicking details would give away too much of the plot. Nevertheless, it seems that The Forgotten relies to heavily on the "gotcha" moments when the rug is pulled out from under the audience. While these moments can provide a momentary thrill or get the adrenaline pumping, they do little to advance the story and (more often) complicate it to the point of becoming implausible.

Moore gives a good performance as Telly. Her vulnerability slides into madness and then strength in a very believable way. West, on the other hand, seems to do little but play the hapless tag-along, potential romantic interest, once Jim is out of the picture. Ironically, the fate of Jim is one of the plot threads that isn't neatly tied up by the end of the film. Of all the performances, however, Sinise is the biggest disappointment. His character is necessarily vague through most of the film, but in the end the actor is relegated to a second-hand role that isn't nearly as important as audiences were led to believe.

For fans of the weird and unexplained, who like a good mystery and are open to answers that fall into the "paranormal" category, this film is a nice diversion. Ultimately, though, I don't see this ending up in my DVD collection. At best, it's a wait-for-HBO kind of movie.

MY RATING: 5 out of 10.

RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 96 min.