"'Gift' Exchange"
by Scott Mantz

"The Gift"
Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves
Directed by Sam Raimi

Cate Blanchett has a "gift" for seeing dead people.

Well, folks, another Christmas has come and gone--and not a moment too soon! After drinking lots of eggnog, hanging out with friends and family, and getting lots of great gifts, now's the time to stand in line and return the ones that weren't so great. Speaking of which, maybe Hollywood can do the same with Sam Raimi's latest film, which is titled--appropriately enough--"The Gift."

This supernatural suspense thriller may come with a truckload of talent attached to it, including Oscar-winners Billy Bob Thornton (who co-wrote the screenplay) and Hilary Swank, as well as Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett, but all that's left under this pretty wrapping paper is a product that we've seen twice already over the last 18 months. Hot on the heels of "The Sixth Sense" and "What Lies Beneath," "The Gift" is a derivative and unimaginative potboiler that will hopefully mark the end of the un-official "I see dead people" trilogy.

The citizens of the small southern town of Brixton, Georgia, suffer from more emotional instability than your average Hollywood production company. This gives Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett) plenty to do, since she gets by (barely) as a single mother of three by using her ESP powers to read the fortunes of her neighbors. When the rich fiance (Katie Holmes) of her son's teacher (Greg Kinnear) turns up dead, the authorities reluctantly call upon Annie's special powers to help them find the killer. In the meantime, Annie has to protect her kids from a manic-depressive auto mechanic (Giovanni Ribisi) and the wife-beating husband (Keanu Reeves) of one of her clients (Hilary Swank). With problems like this, Annie soon discovers that her gift is more like a curse.

After achieving cult status with the hyper-kinetic "Evil Dead" films, director Sam Raimi broke out of the underground with 1998's ultra-intense "A Simple Plan." Not only did it turn out to be one of the best films of that year, but it also showed Raimi to be a filmmaker with a remarkable flair for effective character development and finely crafted suspense.

For much of the time, "The Gift" follows up on that promise. Once again, Raimi has a good eye for fleshing out well-developed characters, but as soon as the supernatural element takes over, Raimi falls back into his old ways with the type of frenetic and flashy style that almost boxed him into a creative corner in the first place. Instead of adding to the suspense, the blending of the two styles is more like a distraction that dulls the effectiveness of the film.

Thanks to a host of derivative elements, "The Gift" instantly brings to mind the similarly-themed "The Sixth Sense" and, to a lesser extent, "What Lies Beneath." Rather than build on the suspense of those two films, "The Gift" merely seems content to rehash them in an ineffective way. Not only does the film feature a character with mysterious powers, but it also features a lake and a bathtub as key story elements.

Fortunately, where the screenplay takes a backseat, the performances take over the wheel. As the sensitive, spooked and troubled fortune teller, Cate Blanchett gives a mesmerizing performance that's almost enough to keep the film balanced. Keanu Reeves is genuinely creepy as the town's resident wife-beater, while Katie Holmes, in a brief, but pivotal role, breaks out of TV's "Dawson's Creek" with a sultry and sexy performance. Greg Kinnear also deserves kudos for broadening his range, while Giovanni Ribisi gives his suicidal auto mechanic a disturbing turn reminiscent of his old appearance on TV's "The X-Files."

Raimi keeps "The Gift" moving at an even pace in an effort to keep you guessing, but it still ends up being predictable and contrived. What's ironic is that even after the critical beating that "What Lies Beneath" got for being too derivative of Hitchcock (which was the whole idea, thank you very much!), "The Gift" tries to pass itself off as something new. Clearly, it's not. Considering that Hollywood has given this gift to moviegoers a few times already, maybe it's not to late to re-wrap it and exchange it for something else.

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