Plot
Told that their children never existed, a man and woman soon discover that there's a much bigger enemy at work.
Release Year: 2004
Rating: 5.7/10 (34,880 voted)
Critic's Score: 43/100
Director:
Joseph Ruben
Stars: Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Christopher Kovaleski
Storyline A grieving mother, Telly Paretta, is struggling to cope with the loss of her 9-year-old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist and her husband tell her that she has created eight years of memories of a son she never had. But when she meets the father of one of her son's friend who is having the same experience, Telly embarks on a mission to prove her son's existence and her sanity.
Cast: Julianne Moore
-
Telly Paretta
Christopher Kovaleski
-
Sam
Matthew Pleszewicz
-
Sam at 5
Anthony Edwards
-
Jim Paretta
Jessica Hecht
-
Eliot
Linus Roache
-
A Friendly Man
Gary Sinise
-
Dr. Jack Munce
Dominic West
-
Ash Correll
Scott Nicholson
-
Cop
P.J. Morrison
-
Cop
Robert Wisdom
-
Carl Dayton
Tim Kang
-
Agent Alec Wong
Kathryn Faughnan
-
Lauren Correll
Alfre Woodard
-
Det. Anne Pope
Felix Solis
-
Brasher
Taglines:
On September 24th everything you've experienced, everything you've known, never happened.
Filming Locations: Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $42,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $21,022,111
(USA)
(26 September 2004)
(3104 Screens)
Gross: $117,575,636
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
USA:
(extended version)
Did You Know?
Trivia: Nicole Kidman was originally attached to star.
Goofs:
Factual errors:
When Detective Pope arrives at the Long Island house, she has a blue light flashing in the front of her unmarked car. The NYPD does not use blue lights, they use red lights in their unmarked cars.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Dr. Jack Munce:
How much time did you spend at the dresser compared to last week? Telly Paretta:
Less. Dr. Jack Munce:
How much less? Telly Paretta:
I don't know exactly. Dr. Jack Munce:
You wanna make a guess, roughly, for the week? Telly Paretta:
Oh, not even an hour a day.
User Review
The very definition of "Hollywood ending"
Rating:
My comment to my wife after watching the film was "if aliens came to
earth and wanted to know what was meant by the term 'Hollywood
Ending'", then they would just have to watch this film to find out.
As previously mentioned, the first half of the movie is interesting.
The often used premise of "what is reality" and the thought that that
which you hold as real runs counter to what everything and everyone
else around you feels. In many ways it's much like "Jacobs Ladder" in
that respect.
The second half really however degrades into what feels like a made for
TV SciFi channel one hour series. The ending is truly awful and makes
absolutely no sense. I think my wife summed it up best when she said
"the ending didn't fit the movie whatsoever, but I liked it anyway
because it made me feel good". Yup, I likened the ending to something
you'd see in a Star Trek episode, going along interestingly enough, and
then the perfect pat ending sprouts up in the last 5 minutes and makes
everyone feel good to be human. I didn't mind the "open endedness" of
the ending so much as the total sense of non congruency once the pieces
are laid out in front of you. It's like getting to the end of the
puzzle, and instead of having missing pieces (which you can at least
fill in in your head), you have pieces left over from two other
seemingly related but different puzzles.
The acting was serviceable, with Julianne Moore turning in a
"Riplyesque" performance (whether this is good or bad depends on your
perspective) but Gary Sinise basically walks through the movie (while
bearing an eerie resemblance to Steve Jobs in the beginning). The other
actors move the plot along, but nothing worth saying anything more
about.
Oh, this movie has one of the best "jump in your seat" auto scenes
ever!
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