The Gift

The Gift

Rating 6 out of 10

This is a slow moving movie with an interesting premise.  A younger good looking couple, Simon and Robyn, move to sunny California from Chicago after he gets a new job and after a recent miscarriage.  Simon grew up near by and knows the area well.  Not long after moving in they see a guy from Simons high school at the local mall who becomes pushy wanting to be good friends.  When he figures out where they live he shows up unannounced and never wants to leave.  Gordon (Gordo) is definitely strange and turns out there is bad blood from the HS days.

This movie was written and directed by Joel Edgerton (who also plays Gordo).  I like Joel alot from the very underrated movie Warrior a couple years ago.  Simon and Robyn are played well enough by Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall.  Rebecca has fallen to the Hollywood starlet trend of cutting all her hair off which I'm not thrilled with.  I do like all the actors involved.

The problem with a movie like this is you have to show alot of it in the previews to get the people to go see it.  Then you have showed so much of it in the previews there isn't much new to see.  Until the last 10-15 minutes the movie plays out just as you expected.  Left me feeling a little bored wanting the big show down I knew as coming to get here.

I"m not sure why the movie critics have fallen in love with this movie.  It stands at 93% on www.rottentomatoes.com.  I was mildly entertained.  It would make a good rental if you don't watch the previews.