Susan Granger’s review of “Premonition” (Sony Pictures)
I had a sixth sense that Sandra Bullock’s sci-fi script judgment might not be the best but this puzzling psychological thriller makes “The Lake House” look logical by comparison.
Bullock plays Linda Hanson, a seemingly happily married mother of two daughters who, one day, hears a knock on the front door and is informed by the police that her husband (Julian McMahon from “Nip/Tuck”) died in a gruesome car crash. She’s devastated, reeling from shock. Yet the next morning, she wakes up to discover her husband isn’t dead. Or is he? Is that really his body in the coffin? Or is she experiencing a psychic phenomenon?
And what about her creepy mother (Kate Nelligan), distracted best friend (Nia Long) and her husband’s flirtatious new assistant (Amber Valletta).
Problem is: once you suspend disbelief, and buy into the intriguing premise of Bill Kelly’s screenplay (which occasionally seems to be channeling “Groundhog Day”), he double-crosses you, and that’s not fair. You develop sympathy, even empathy for Linda – and there’s essentially no pay-off – unless you want to turn the entire concept into a moralizing lesson on faith. But that’s another movie entirely.
Plus, German director Mennan Yapo doesn’t permit a shred of humor to permeate the predictably suspenseful atmosphere – which is a mistake. On the other hand, despite the confounding material, Sandra Bullock scores as believable, just as she did in “Crash.”
But one does wonder why this charming actress chooses such inappropriate material; it’s all quite similar to Jim Carrey’s serious turn in “The Number 23.” Don’t these stars realize the public wants to see them do what made them stars in the first place?
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Premonition” is a convoluted 4. It’s a pointless race against time.
