The Gift Poster

The Gift (2000)

Drama | Horror 
Rayting:   6.7/10 64K votes
Country: USA
Language: English
Release date: 5 April 2001

A woman with extrasensory perception is asked to help find a young woman who has disappeared.

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NateWatchesCoolMovies 4 December 2016

Anyone who loves a good slice of southern Gothic murder mystery should check out Sam Raimi's The Gift, one of several films in the eclectic scoundrel's ouvre which made a departure from his usual brand of chaotic horror. Cate Blanchett stars as Annabelle, a single mother with a very perceptive telepathic ability, which in rural USA is greeted without any skepticism by the locals. She is renowned for her gift, and often approached by people in need. The story sees her trying to locate young Jessica (Katie Holmes), who has gone missing, and discovering some nasty secrets about the people around her in the process, people she thought she knew better. Jessica's fiancé (Greg Kinnear) is desperate but clearly knows something he's not saying. Also involved is battered housewife Valerie (Hilary Swank), her terrifying abusive boyfriend Donnie (Keanu Reeves), a local mechanic (Giovanni Ribisi) who befriends Annabelle, and others. It's an ugly tale contrasted by Blanchett's striking beauty, which the cameras capture in all the right instances. She could be rearranging a bookshelf and still be compelling and elegant, and always is in whichever role she takes on. Reeves is a scary tornado of pent up rage and sickness, cast way against type and loving every rage fuelled second. As if the main cast wasn't packed enough with talent, we also get stellar work from Gary Cole, Michael Jeter, Kim Dickens, Rosemary Harris, a random cameo from Danny Elfman and a sly turn from J.K. Simmons as the county sheriff. What a cast, eh? Raimi puts them to good use, and each one gets their moment to shine. I've never seen a film by the director I haven't loved; the guy just makes super fun, accessible genre treats that are irresistibly likable. Pair that with the evocative southern tone and Blanchett's winning presence and you've got one hell of a little package. Very overlooked stuff.

diablomissouri 24 January 2005

Fmovies: Enjoyed this movie from beginning to end. Great acting, good writing and directing. Kept me engrossed from start to finish and that is saying a lot as not many movies hold my complete attention for that long. The acting of the whole ensemble was adequate but primaries especially did well with their roles. Keanu Reeves was very convincing as a backwoods wife beater and Hillary Swank played her part as the long suffering wife to a tee. Cate Blanchette was excellent as Annie Wilson, gave just the right touches to be realistic as I do know of several "seers" in real life and she captured their essence completely in my opinion.

Theo Robertson 10 April 2003

I thought THE GIFT was going to be another of those clichéd tales involving a fortune teller , but as soon as the credits revealed that the director was the underrated Sam Raimi I suddenly started hoping that this was going to be a good film and my expectations were more than satisfied.

Raimi is probably best known for his SPIDERMAN blockbuster and the EVIL DEAD films , but I can't help thinking he's far better suited to human dramas like this film and A SIMPLE PLAN . Part human drama on being an outsider , part court room drama , part whodunnit and part supernatural mystery THE GIFT could have ended up as an unfocused mess but Raimi pulls it off . A word too for Raimi's handling of the cast , all the performances are very good . As you'd expect from such a talented actress Cate Blanchet is excellent , but Keannu Reeves is a shock as a redneck scum bag . I won't go so far as to say he steals the show but as a confirmed Reeves hater I found his performance totally convincing . Praise indeed

In terms of pace , intelligence and characterisation Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson have written a very good script , but I have one genuine complaint regarding forensics . In the court scenes evidence is presented , but there is nothing regarding forensic evidence which does lead to a fairly big plot hole . If I remember correctly A SIMPLE PLAN also suffers slightly from the screenwriter not doing his homework regarding forensics . But I suppose I can forgive this because of a haunting and touching shock twist at the end . If you've seen THE GIFT you'll know what I'm talking about , if you haven't then I won't spoil it for you . The only problem with the twist is that after you've seen it the second or third time it's not as moving or touching as it was the first time

tknicol 13 August 2006

The Gift fmovies. I always said that Keanu Reeves was not that good of an actor but I still always have liked him. That was until I finally saw this movie for the first time 5 minutes ago. Keanu was amazing, best he has ever been. I also always say that Hillary Swank was God awful and that I have never liked her. Until I saw her in this movie, she was awesome, too. They were all awesome. This movie was nothing less than pure 100% genius. I had no idea Billy Bob Thorton was part writer on this which also explains why it is so damn good. Everyone in this movie showed their acting abilities. Even the kids were great, even the dog was great. This is how much I enjoyed this movie. If you like a murder mystery than check this flick out. You won't be sorry!!

oneguyrambling 6 November 2010

I really wanted to like this even more, as it is it's a pretty good flick with a lot of in-theory-pluses, but doesn't come through on quite enough of them to elevate it to greatness or even "really-goodness".

The potential pluses include: 1 – A solid cast. 2 – Sam Raimi in the big boy chair. 3 – A supernatural story. 4 – Katie Holmes unleashing the "Cruise missiles" at last.

1 – First the cast: The "Good" – Cate Blanchett, Greg Kinnear, The "They'll do" – Keanu Reeves, Hillary Swank, Giovanni Ribisi and the "Maybe she'll get 'em out?", Katie Holmes.

2 – Sam Raimi almost goes back to his roots of horror with this one, I love when he does straight horror, but he is a very fine director of so-called mainstream films as well, moreso when ignoring the Spiderman series. He doesn't seem to worry about the studios or the box office as much, and allows his creativity free reign.

3 – I love good supernatural stuff. The plot of The Gift revolves around the disappearance of a young woman from a small backwoods town in the US, and how the various townsfolk are somehow involved or impacted.

The primary character is Cate Blanchett as a hard working, penniless mother of three named Annie, who happens to have eerily accurate visions of the future. The strength of Cate in the role is that she is a good actress and makes some of the later visions a little more credible than they might otherwise be - and she also has no issue with wearing some of the dodgiest tracky dacks ever seen on TV.

Annie gives readings for many local people, including several regulars who fortunately are professional actors, Giovanni Ribisi as Buddy and Hillary Swank as Valerie among them. Valerie has the good fortune of being married to full blown ignorant redneck Donnie, played with spotty-bearded abandon by Canoe Reeves. Donnie has no issue with threatening Annie for urging Valerie to leave him, and obviously does a lot worse to Valerie behind closed doors.

Buddy is a local bloke working at a dinky mechanics workshop, he is obviously a very troubled individual with serious inner demons and wears his insecurity on his sleeve. As Annie seems to be the only person who believes in him and takes an interest in his affairs Buddy sees her as somewhat of a personal saint.

As mentioned Annie has three young kids, is a widow and doesn't appear to have a high disposable income (see trackie dacks) so her girl buddy drags her out for a rare evening of relaxation at the local lodge. There they encounter local school principal Wayne, played by Greg Kinnear, and his partner Jessica, played by Katie Holmes. Annie and Wayne seem to take a shine to each other, which is unfortunate as he is engaged to Jessica. Annie also finds out over the course of the evening that young Jessie is somewhat the local slut and Wayne appears oblivious to her saucy fraternising.

Anyway so Annie gets home to pick up the boys from the babysitter and finds out someone was in the house doing menacing things. She immediately assumes that it was Donnie following up with some of his earlier threats.

The morning comes and it comes to light that Jessie has gone missin' the night previous. Her father and Wayne, and a local cop (who is more than a little sceptical) consult Annie for a reading, which initially fails due to distractions.

The remainder of the film takes a great many twists and turns on the way to clarifying what happe

moonspinner55 6 January 2002

Southern psychic and widowed mother of three is pulled against her will into the logistics of a popular local girl's disappearance. Although the brutality inherent in the script is laid on with a trowel, "The Gift" has many mesmerizing attributes, not the least of which is Sam Raimi's assured direction and the casting of luminous Cate Blanchett, sensational in the lead. Anyone who has seen Kevin Bacon's "Stir Of Echoes" will notice some curious similarities, but I found this movie much preferable, as it uses a terrific ensemble cast to its full advantage, and weaves a plot that is by turns outrageous and completely absorbing. I bought right into "The Gift" and stayed with it breathlessly every step of the way. ***1/2 from ****

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