Hide and Seek: Movie & DVD Review (2005)

(Originally published 2005)

The best way to tell when things are getting bleak in the thriller “Hide and Seek" is to check Dakota Fanning’s face. When she starts to look like a poached egg, that's when you better hide.

Her character, Emily, begins the movie with flushed cheeks and happy eyes, but by the time her mother (Amy Irving) does something unspeakable, Emily looks as if she's ready for a few quarts of blood.

Eager to help her, her father (Robert De Niro), a psychiatrist, decides to move to the country so they can have some down time. Problem is, it’s in their rented house that things get worse, with Emily finding an imaginary friend in the never-seen Charlie who causes a motherlode of problems.

Throughout, the acting is good, with a fine supporting performance from Elisabeth Shue as a concerned neighbor; she reminds us how underused she is. The production also is solid, as is the initial nest of tension director John Polson ("Swimfan") mines from Ari Schlossberg's script.

The DVD offers several alternative endings, none of which matter because they don't fix the core problem--the film's final twist is an absurd, let-down gimmick, allowing the movie to crumble the moment it's introduced.

Grade: C