The Gift (2000)

Working from a script co-written by Billy Bob Thorton and Tom Epperson, director Sam Rami brings us a southern gothic horror thriller. He assembled a stellar cast of some of the best young actors including Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves,

Katie Holmes, Hillary Swank, Greg Kinnear, and Giovanni Ribisi and set them loose on this clunky script. At the heart of the story is the gift that Annie Wilson has. She has psychic powers. Like most of Rami’s films, the story is a potboiler full of murders, sexual assaults, threats, a lot of yelling, fire, and drownings. Annie Wilson is able to “see” both forward and backward, piecing together elements that become evidence in unravelling the dire deeds. It is to her credit that the character is believable, not histrionic or distorted in any way. The movie is a fun, trashy couple of hours of entertainment.