Ready to Run

Runaway Bride

Director: Garry Marshall

Cast: Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, Joan Cusack, Christopher Meloni, Hector Elizondo, Rita Wilson, Paul Dooley, Donal Logue

Released: July 30, 1999

More like Runaway Viewer, am I right?

This 1999 Julia Roberts rom-com might be even worse than her other 1999 rom-com, Notting Hill. Clearly, this was an excuse for Garry Marshall to capitalize on the success of Pretty Woman and make a movie with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere (and Hector Elizondo!) again. 

So much about this movie drove me crazy and didn't make any sense to me. Anyway, let's just get into it, shall we?

Ike Graham (Richard Gere) is a writer who lives in New York with his fluffy cat named Italics (which, I won't lie, I kinda love that he named his cat that) where he has his own column in USA Today and everyone seems to know who he is. We see him outside walking to a bar (where he apparently writes his columns; like that helps when there are drunk people around you talking and laughing or playing darts while you're trying to finish your column by a certain deadline) and the people on the streets of NYC are asking him what his next column is going to be or give him ideas on what he should write about.  

At the bar, a drunk man gives him an idea for a story he could write about. There's a woman from his hometown who dumps grooms at the altar. She is called "the runaway bride." The man tells Ike she's done this 7-8 times and she's already engaged to someone else. Without even interviewing her or anyone else (I guess he didn't have time since the article was in the next day's paper), Ike writes about the woman, Maggie Carpenter (Julia Roberts) who lives in the small town of Hale, Maryland and works at her father's hardware store. He calls her a "man eater" and writes that "she like to dress her men up as grooms before she devours them." 

Maggie sees the column, but thinks her best friend, Peggy (Joan Cusack), and cousin, Cindy, wrote the column as a joke. I don't know how she thinks these two small-town women could have a "joke" article published about her in USA Today. I was a bit confused by that. When she realizes it was not a joke, she begins to hyperventilate and writes back to the columnist to accuse him of slander and to set some things straight and points out he had fifteen "gross factual misrepresentations". 

It just so happens that Ike's editor, Ellie (Rita Wilson), is also his ex-wife. (That's gotta be awkward!) She tells him she has to fire him for what he did. Look, I understand writing an article without checking your facts is really, really bad, BUT it's not like this is a major national or international story. This is just some random woman in small town USA who runs away from marriages at the last minute (the very last minute!) If anything, he should have been suspended from writing his article for a month, written Maggie a sincere apology, and maybe the paper should have given Maggie a nice little compensation. Then maybe Ike could have interviewed her and written a factual, actual article about her. Also, how did this article even get published without anyone checking it first? 

Ike claims he did have "a source" and when Ellie guesses, "Some boozehound in a bar?", she's not wrong. She tells him if he goes quietly, he'll get severance pay. Hopefully he'll get enough to pay for the rent for the ridiculously lavish NYC apartment he resides in! I guess columnists for USA Today make a nice little chunk of change! The next day Maggie excitedly reads in USA Today that Ike has been fired and his column will no longer be appearing in the paper. The apology is written under the headline "USA Today divorces columnist Graham." 

Ike's friend and Ellie's husband, Fisher (Hector Elizondo), does free lance for GQ and tells Ike he can still write his story. Maybe his facts weren't all correct, but his theory might be and if she runs again, he'll have a story. So Ike is up to the challenge and he decides to spend the next two weeks in Hale. Honestly, I have no idea why he cares about this story so much. 

Even though Hale is a homonym for Hell, it is an idyllic small town where everyone is friendly and knows each other (and knows everyone's business...that part isn't so idyllic). There are many jokes where Ike compares Hale to Mayberry: he literally calls it Mayberry at one point, he whistles The Andy Griffith Show theme song when he and Maggie are walking through Main Street (I did laugh when she goes, "I know what that is"), and he calls this old woman "Aunt Bea". I'm surprised he didn't have an interaction with a little redhead boy so he could call him "Opie." 

Ike first stops at her family's hardware store and there's a note on the door saying she's at the beauty shop, so that's where he goes. It's called Curl Up and Dye which is a funny pun, but I wouldn't go to a salon called that! Maggie's best friend, Peggy (her name is Peggy Flemming, but she's not the ice skater) works there and Maggie is on the floor, working on one of the swivel chairs. She hears Ike ask Peggy he's looking for her and is trying to hide behind the chair, but since the chair is only about a couple feet from where he is, of course he can see her, though they're trying to angle the camera like he can't see her. Uh-uh, Garry Marshall, you can't fool me! Peggy asks if he's a reporter, that reporters have been wanting to talk to Maggie "about getting that a-hole from New York fired." Maggie gets up to talk to him and everything seems fine at first, but then she takes a peek at the USA Today which is lying on one of the counters and it just so happens to be opened to Ike's column where there's a photo of Ike. Realizing he's the enemy, she and Peggy offer to give him a wash to get rid of all that city grit from his hair and they end up dying his hair about six different colors, which is quite impressive they could do that. Okay, my question is, why didn't Maggie recognize him as soon as he walked into the salon because she had already seen his picture before. 

 

We find out that Maggie is getting married a week from Sunday. Now I'm not sure what day it is when Ike first meets her, but just keep in mind that Maggie is getting married "a week from Sunday." We'll come back to that later. 

To Maggie's dismay, Ike tells her he's staying until the day of the wedding because he knows she's going to run again. (And honestly? I would place my money on him). While in Hale (why does that make me laugh?), Ike meets Maggie's father and grandmother (her mother died when she was in college) and even talks to the previous three men who were supposed to be Maggie's husband at one point. There's even a video of all three near-nupitals and Maggie is captured running away from all three. The fact that this video exists is hilarious. 

So through the videos and Ike's interviews with the men and from what Maggie tells him, I've compiled a list about all of Maggie's fiancés:

The first husband-to-be- was to be Gill Chavez and their wedding had sort of a 60s/Woodstock vibe going on. This is probably because they were into going to concerts (they went to a couple in San Francisco) and they each got a rose tattoo (we see Maggie wearing a dress that shows off her back, that shows off her tattoo) and Gill proposed with a rose ring. (Maggie kept all her engagement rings (which she shows to Ike), which is a bit...odd. I feel like you should return the ring if you're not getting married to the guy!) On the wedding video Ike watches, the groom is playing the guitar and Maggie jumps on a trampoline and crowds surfs. Already, this seems like the worst wedding ever. Before she's about to get married, a guy with a motorcycle shows up (no, not her next husband, just some random dude she knew) and she hops on and they drive off. She has a fun, youthful look with her hair in pigtails with a sunflower crown. I am a bit confused by the time line of these weddings since we never get a solid year when each one occurred. Were they all about five years apart? Only a year? That would be a nice little detail to know. Ike exposes Maggie's tattoo as being a fake and this crushes Gill, even though this all presumably happened years ago. 

Her second wedding is as opposite as her first one as you can get. This time, she's getting married in a huge Catholic church to a man named Brian Norris (played by Donal Logue) and everything is a bit more prim and proper than her previous wedding! I do love her lace trimmed dress, but her train is ridiculously long! I have never understood the point of having a ridiculously long dress unless you're Lady Gaga trying to make a fashion state or getting married in a royal wedding. Perhaps it was a sign their wedding was in a huge church, because we see Maggie go to confession (even though she's not Catholic) and tell the priest she's "been having bad thoughts - I want to destroy this man's life, career, everything. I want revenge." Of course, she's talking about Ike and she already got him fired from USA Today, so she's doing a pretty good so far! It turns out the priest is Brian, who has found his true calling. Out of all of Maggie's exes, he seems the least burned and has no anger with her whatsoever. We do learn that she dated Brian ten years ago, so that gives us some perspective on the time. She tells Brian about Ike and how he'll probably stop by to interview him with a bunch of ridiculous questions, but Brian says he's already been by to interview him and he only asked one ridiculous questions which was "how does Maggie like her eggs?" 

The third wedding was to be to an entomologist named George Swilling, who happened to be the guy from the bar in New York who gave Ike the idea for the story in the first place. They have an outdoor wedding where Maggie rides in on a horse, only to gallop away. So by this time, it's absolutely ridiculous that Maggie is having a THIRD wedding, don't you think? The first wedding, okay, whatever, it's the first wedding and you just think Maggie wasn't ready to marry this guy or he wasn't the guy for her. The second wedding didn't bother me since everyone is probably thinking this is the guy she's meant to be with. But a THIRD wedding? After she's pulled this sh*t twice now? Uh-huh, no way. At first, I thought the poor schmuck (aka groom #3) didn't know about Maggie because he was from the city, but then I remembered he tells Ike that Maggie is from his hometown, so he knew about her. Why would you ever get engaged to someone who's run off on two previous weddings? And this guy seems to be the most vitriolic towards her, which is so stupid since he knew about her track record. 

And speaking of people who are aware of Maggie's track record, this brings us to husband-to-be number four, Bob (Christopher Meloni), who is well aware of Maggie's past, but seems to think he will be able to get Maggie to marry him. Bob is a high school PE teacher and has climbed Everest twice (as someone who's read Into Thin Air and watched the movie, I have never understood the appeal of wanting to doing that). They will be traveling to Nepal for their honeymoon to climb Annapurra, which sounds like the worst honeymoon ever. Also, pretty sure Maggie has never climbed any mountain, so why would you take an inexperienced climber all the way to Nepal? Even Ike knows this is bs and tells Maggie she doesn't want to go there for her honeymoon, but she keeps insisting she does. To Maggie's dismay, Bob has invited Ike to the wedding and she asks him, "Don't you realize that he's writing another article about me?" Bob isn't worried because he's convinced she's not running. Poor Bob. Why does he think he's so special that this time will be different? Actually, Bob is special in a way, but we'll get to that later.  

Since this is a small town, Maggie is able to convince the manager of the inn where Ike is staying to give her the key to him room and he does as long as she promises "not to take anything big" - now you think that sentence would stop after the word, "anything", but no, just as long she doesn't take "anything big" (I assume that means in value terms, not actual physical size, but still!). While snooping around, Maggie finds some of his Post-Its with notes about his story. She reads one of them aloud: "How does she get all those guys to propose? She's not that beautiful?" Eesh, that's harsh. And if he doesn't think Julia Roberts is beautiful, he must have some ridiculously high standards. But, of course, he thinks she's beautiful. We all know this. 

None of his notes she finds paint her in a flattering light, so Maggie tells Ike that she will help him "write the truth." She tells him, "I've decided to cooperate and let you interview me for a thousand bucks." She wants this money to help buy a dress she really wants. For this, she will let him interview her and follow her around. They negotiate and she agrees to $650 in the end. 

The dress Maggie wants is the one in the display window. She tells the store's owner (an elderly woman, the one who Ike calls "Aunt Bea" to her face) that she wants to buy it and that she has the $1000 that it costs to pay for it. For some strange reason, the woman, who remember, is the owner of this stores, tries to talk Maggie out of buying a $1000 dress and to instead buy the $300 one they have on hold for her in the back. She tells her she's only going to wear it for a few minutes (heh, even "Aunt Bea" thinks she's gonna run again). In a movie full of head scratching moments, this has to be high on the list. Her job is to SELL dresses and here is a customer willing to give her $700 extra for a different dress. She should be ecstatic about this and ringing up the dress for Maggie and thanking her for her purchase and telling her to have a wonderful wedding. Why does she care so much that she take the cheaper dress? This makes absolutely no sense. Now if Peggy or Maggie's grandmother were with them, I could see them persuading Maggie not to overindulge on a dress, but this is a woman who's trying to make a sale. If Maggie wants to blow $1000 on a dress she's only going to wear for a few minutes, then let her! Since when did sales people grow "morals"? Gimme a break! Now that I think about this scene, it kinda reminds of that famous scene in Pretty Woman where the sales women refuses to help Julia Roberts because she's dressed like a hooker. So I wonder if this is a homage to that? Either way, it's totally stupid that this woman wouldn't want to make sell a thousand dollar dress. Ike just grabs the dress and tells "Aunt Bea" they're taking it. 

Out of all the wedding dresses Maggie wears in this movie, this one is my least favorite. Yes, it is pretty, I will admit that, but it would have been much better if it was a strapless dress without that weird sheer fabric.

So, surprise, surprise, we see Maggie and Ike growing closer and Maggie tells Ike how her dad began drinking more and more after her mom passed away and how she had to quit school (she was studying design) to come back home to help out with the hardware store. They even had a moment where they almost kiss, but they don't. 

A luau-themed (an elaborate luau-themed!) wedding reception is held for Maggie and Bob (again, why are we spending so much money on this woman's THIRD reception? Did I miss the part of the movie where Maggie's dad is filthy rich?) and when Maggie's family and friends stand up to give a toast, they all make jokes such as, "May the groom's heart be filled with hope, and the bride's feet filled with lead" and "May the gifts be returnable." Her dad even makes this one: "You know the old saying, 'You're not losing a daughter?' Well, I'd like to! Maggie may not be Hale's longest running joke, but she is certainly the fastest." Ike is really offended by these toasts. (Oh yeah, did I tell you that Ike was invited?) So much so that he goes up to the table where Maggie is sitting with Bob, kneels down and asks if she's okay. Then he decides to give his own toast, or rather, roast: "To Maggie's family and friends. May you find yourselves the bull's eye of an easy target. May you be publicly flogged for all of your bad choices, and may your noses be rubbed in all of your mistakes." That sure shut everyone up! Also, I think Ike is overreacting just a tad. Yeah, maybe they should have toned it down with the jokes, but he just acts so sanctimonious about it. 

A rehearsal is held two days before the wedding. Bob insisted on this because he wants Maggie to "visualize the ceremony." It has been discovered if Maggie loses eye contact with the groom, then she gets freaked out and runs, so he keeps telling her to "keep her eye on the ball." Ike is there (of course) and Maggie suggests that he play the pastor because it will give him "a great view." 

So they start the rehearsal and Maggie is supposed to walk down the aisle, but she keeps tensing and walking really slowly. Bob decides he's going to walk with her and has Ike play the part of the groom. There's his first big mistake. Bob tells her not to break eye contact with the groom and Maggie is gazing intently into Ike's eyes. Bob, now playing the part of the pastor, yada yadas through the ceremony, and ends with "I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." He continues on with instructions about what they'll do next, but Maggie and Ike are still staring at each other and kiss in front of Bob, not to mention Peggy and Maggie's cousin, who are also there (as they are the bridesmaids). 

Of course, Bob is not happy about this and asks them how long this has been going on. Maggie says a minute and Ike says a little longer for him, which Maggie seems very happy about. She smiles and says, "Really?" WTF?  Bob asks them what he's supposed to say to this and Ike replies that he could say, "Well, I hope you two will be really happy together." Again, WTF? If I were Bob, I would punch Ike in the face. Oh, wait, that's exactly what he does after he says what Ike suggests he should say. He storms out of the church with Maggie running after him, apologizing. She tells him, "At least this time I backed out before the wedding." 

Yes, so Bob is special in that while Maggie still left him, at least it wasn't at the altar! No, she just left him for another man which might be even worse.

Maggie must be a sociopath because she does not care at all what she did to Bob (and we'll see pretty soon that Bob gets over it pretty fast too) because she and Ike start making out again. These two are shameless! Then we get this ridiculous moment where Ike suggests to Maggie that since she already has the dress, the church, and the wedding date, she may as well just marry him. This guy certainly has some nerve, doesn't he? He tells her, "You do have to go down the aisle with somebody that you love and who loves you back." Ugh, barf. No, Maggie does not have to go down the aisle if she's not ready to get married! Especially to some guy she's only known a week? Maybe a week and a half at best. So stupid and ridiculous. But she agrees to get married to him in two days. 

When the big day arrives, it's covered by the media. One of the reporters says, "Maggie Carpenter, always a bride, never a bridesmaid" which made me laugh. But, seriously, does the country really care about some random small town woman's wedding? No, no they do not. 

The ceremony is probably only an hour away and while Peggy and her cousin are in their bridesmaid dresses, Maggie is only wearing her veil and her her jeans and flannel shirt on. Hmm, something tells me she doesn't want to get married. Peggy tells her, "He's the one. He really is the one." Why? Why is he so different than the rest? Because he's Richard Gere and she's Julia Roberts? I really don't get it. 

Ike has invited Ellie and Fisher to the wedding. Ellie whispers to him, "I have a car waiting out back for you in case she decides to run." Hmmm, did she jinx him? Remember how I said we'll see that Bob gets over his fiancee dumping him for another man pretty fast? Well, he actually comes to the wedding! Yes, he comes to the wedding that was supposed to be his. That seems weird, no? But, no, he's perfectly fine and even gives Ike a flower to wear on his lapel and gives Ike the advice to "maintain eye contact." Have I mentioned how stupid and unrealistic this movie is? 

 

Okay, so I did laugh when the ceremony is about to start and Maggie tells her bridesmaids not to saunter down the aisle: "Just make time, just get there, just go." And they show the two women walk really fast down the aisle. That was actually pretty funny. 

Then Maggie walks down the aisle and we see a reporter nearby, whispering into his mic. How did a reporter get into the church? At one point, Maggie pauses and everyone gasps and worries, but she just flashes her iconic Julia Roberts smile and continues down and everyone is relieved and laughs. Her dad takes a photo from the front pew and the flash blinds Ike who blinks and loses eye contact. This makes Maggie panic and she backs away and flees outside where she jumps onto a Fed-Ex truck. Ellie and Fisher watch as Ike runs after her. Ellie asks, "Where do you think she's going?" Fisher replies, "Wherever it is, she'll be there by 10:30 tomorrow." I'm sure Fed Ex loved the publicity. To give her credit, Maggie does look guilty as the truck drives her away.

While watching this, I wondered why they made Maggie work at a hardware store because that's so unlikely for a woman in a romcom to work. When a random citizen of Hale reads outloud the headline in the paper the next day, I think they chose this profession for her just to have this punny joke: "Hardware Honey Goes Nuts and Bolts." You know someone was proud when they came up with that. In fact, I bet they came up with that first, then decided to make her work at a hardware store. 

The summer of '99 must have been a really slow time for the news because this story is on the FRONT PAGE (yes, the FRONT PAGE) of USA Today with the headline, "Maggie's Mad Dash." I'm sorry, but WTF? Why would this make the FRONT PAGE of USA Today? Is that not the stupidest thing you've ever heard? 

A couple months later (I'm not really sure how much time has passed, actually) Maggie talks to Ike about why she runs away from things. She tells him, "When I was walking down the aisle, I was walking toward somebody who had no idea who I really was. And it was only half the other person's fault because I had done everything to convince him that I was exactly what he wanted. So it was good that I didn't go through with it because it would've been a lie. But you knew the real me." She says she didn't know the real her. Before this scene and after the scene where she runs from the wedding, we see a montage of her "finding herself" (I guess). This includes trying different cooked eggs. While talking to her exes, Ike had discovered that they all told him Maggie's favorite kind of eggs were the same way they liked their eggs. And of course we saw Maggie tell Gill she would get a matching tattoo with him (even though hers was fake) and told Bob she would go mountain climbing with him (I wonder how long she would have gone on with the trip before she told him she couldn't climb a freaking mountain?) So apparently she was just making herself into something she wasn't so these guys would like her? Maybe subconsciously she did this because she was worried about her dad and didn't want to leave him? Maybe she just likes the attention and didn't want to be with the same guy? To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure why she ran away from so many relationships and why she did it at the last moment. I mean, it's fine if you don't want to marry someone, but maybe figure that out before the day of the wedding.

I have to complain about the scene where we see Maggie trying all the different eggs. This is one of the stupidest scenes (and there are so many!) because we see a big table with about ten plates that each hold different types of cooked eggs - poached, fried, sunny side up, scrambled, omelette - you name it. Okay, real talk here - if you wanted to see what kind of cooked egg was your favorite, you would realistically cook an egg one way, eat it, then cook the next egg and so on and so forth. Or you would go to a breakfast restaurant (like Le Peep! I don't think that's a chain, but it's this awesome place near where I live that serves breakfast. My mom always orders the Hen Pen) for a week and just order your eggs cooked differently every day. You don't cook all the eggs at once! They're going to get cold and nasty! Anyway, if you're dying to know (because I know you are), Maggie's favorite is eggs Benedict and she hates all other kinds of eggs. She also reveals she hates big weddings "because everyone is staring." WHAT? Then why did she have four of them? She tells Ike, "I'd like to get married on a weekday while everybody's at work." Again, why did she have so many weddings with so many invitees? I'm so confused. 

 

Maggie then proposes to Ike and they get married outdoors on a hill top (it was very beautiful) and once the nuptials have been read we see a few of their friends and family appear and everyone is happy Maggie has finally tied the knot. I bet it even made the national news. 

The movie credits end with Mark Anthony singing "You Sang to Me" which is a song I forgot existed, but I totally love.

They should have just made Pretty Woman 2. Big mistake. HUGE. 

Is It Love, Actually?

Notting Hill

Director: Roger Michell

Cast: Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, Hugh Bonneville, Rhys Ifans, Alec Baldwin

Released: May 28, 1999

This is a movie I liked when I watched it when it first came out, but now that I'm a little older and wiser, I can see that this movie is really not that good. These two people getting together makes no sense at all and there are so many things that don't really make any sense.

I should warn there will be spoilers though it's probably a moot point since this movie is very predictable and even if you've never seen it, you probably know that that two leads get together. Uh, spoiler alert! I WISH there was a reason for me to put a spoiler warning; I wish there was a bit of a twist in this movie, but, alas, there is not.

This is the movie where Julia Roberts basically plays herself. It reminds me of when Whitney Houston played a mega pop star in The Bodyguard. Julia Roberts, the most famous actress in the whole entire universe at the time, plays Anna Scott, the most famous actress in the whole entire universe. Hugh Grant plays William Thacker, a charming and self-deprecating English lad with floppy hair who owns a travel bookstore in Notting Hill, a charming and affluent area of London. He used to be married to a woman who left him for a man "who looked exactly like Harrison Ford." He says his shop doesn't sell many travel books and that basically business hasn't been booming. If that's the case, how doe he afford his house (which seems pretty nice). Well, good thing he ends up with a movie star who makes $15 million a movie (spoiler alert!)! I can't help but wonder if that's the real reason he was so enamored with her. I bet it was a pretty big big reason.

Our two leads meet fairly early in the movie when Anna comes into the bookstore and you can tell he recognizes her because he looks at her, then does a double take. Like with any other customer, he asks if he can help her and she politely says no. He will continue to try to engage in conversation with her by telling her she shouldn't get the book she's looking at and recommends another book on the same country (Turkey) and continues to give the author's credentials. He's just babbling and you just want to to him to SHUT UP! (and this won't even be the worst example of this!) and Anna is just nodding and trying to be polite, but you can tell she doesn't want to really have any conversation with him. She will end up buying the book she was looking at, but he throws in the recommended book for free. Celebrities; they have so much money, but yet they still get everything for free! Such BS! Also, why is he just giving her a FREE book when he could sell it to someone who may actually want it when his shop isn't doing so well. Oh, right, because he's so starstruck. 

She leaves, but they will have their real meet cute five minutes later, or an hour later (not really sure how much time passes once she leaves the store) when Will has gone out to buy orange juice and a pastry and he's headed back to his store. He's rounding a corner and who should be coming from the opposite side, also at a face pace. Why, it's Anna Scott, of course (with seemingly no bodyguards...don't really big time celebs have bodyguards with them? Unless they were watching from a distance. But then why would they let her...oh, never mind!) They collide into each other and Will (I honestly don't even remember if he's referred to as "Will" or "William" in this movie, but "Will" is shorter to type, so we're going with that!) spills his OJ all over her blouse. Thank God it wasn't coffee; I can only image how much she would sue him for that! She's sopping wet and he offers to let her clean up at his place which is just down the street and she can see it with the blue door from where she's standing. She says she needs to get her car back (was it in the shop or something?) and he says she can use his phone. This is how you can tell this movie takes place pre-Smart Phone! This is also the time where, if indeed she did have a bodyguard, they would intercept her and stop her from going to a strange man's house...which she does! This is SHOCKING that a woman, especially someone who is a public figure like Anna Scott, would just go into this man's house without a second thought. What if he was some crazy stalker and had planned this to lure her back to his house? But she's just like, Okay, I'll change at your house and use your phone. Seriously, would Julia Roberts ever go into some random person's house after they spilled OJ on her? No, she would not! I wouldn't do it and I'm not even famous! 

I should mention that Will has a flatmate named Spike (Rhys Ifans) who is a complete slob and the house is always just a mess. He also has no filter and no common sense. A lot of his scenes are just there for comedic purposes and I'll talk more about him later. Will apologizes for the messy kitchen and I noticed a chalkboard on the wall with the message, "Spike, clean up" which I thought was a nice touch. 

Anna changes her shirt (she had been shopping, so she had a top to change into) and when she comes downstairs, Will is gazing in awe at her. He seems to be enamored with her fame and beauty more than anything else. There is an extremely awkward and cringe-worthy scene where she's clearly ready to leave once she's gotten everything situated and he asks her if she wants something to drink. He just offer her twenty different beverages and she says "no" to all of them. Dude, get a clue, she doesn't want anything to drink! She also doesn't want anything "to nibble". He offers her apricots soaked in honey and rambles on about how they taste like honey and if you wanted honey, then you should just get honey. First of all, it's like, UGH, SHUT UP! Second of all, it's pronounced AP-ra-cot, not APE-ra-cot. (I know, I know, that's how British people pronounce it). Will asks her, "Do you always say no to everything?" to which Anna predictably replies, "No."

Before she leaves, Will tells her, "It was nice to meet you. Surreal, but nice." After she leaves, he berates himself for saying something so stupid. But seconds later, his doorbell will ring and he will find Anna there! She has forgotten her bag with the books which she had left at the bottom of the stairs before she went up to change. To be honest, I had also forgotten about that bag. The question is did she really forget her bag or did she leave it on purpose? He gives her the bag, she thanks him, looks at him, then kisses him. And I'm not talking a peck on the cheek, but a full on make out session. HUH? Where did this come from? Why is she kissing him? It had been awhile since I last saw this movie and I thought they had eventually warmed up to a romance, but it seems to start, like, ten minutes after they meet. I can understand why he's so enamored with her since she's a big time movie star, but I'm not sure why she's so into him? I mean, he seems like a perfectly nice guy and he isn't bad-looking, but there is absolutely no reason she should be kissing him like that. If he had saved her life or defended her honor, then maybe I could see a reason. Will apologizes for his "surreal, but nice" comment and Anna tells him she thought the low point was when he started babbling on about the honey-drenched apricots. Hey, she's not wrong! And at least she pronounced "apricots" the right way! Before she leaves (again), Anna tells him, "It's probably best not to tell anyone about this." Obviously, she's only looking out for herself. If a gorgeous famous celebrity kissed you, of course you're going to tell everybody! Duh! That's the only natural human response. Of course, nobody is going to believe you anyway! 

That night, Will and Spike watch a movie starring Anna Scott and Matthew Modine and it looks like the most pretentious, God-awful film. Its called Gramercy Park and it's in black and white. The scene we see Will and Spike watching has them at an art gallery and Matthew Modine's character keeps telling Anna Scott's character to smile and she's all, "I've got nothing to smile about." Also, nothing more obnoxious than somebody telling you to smile. Moments later, he asks her to marry him and she breaks out into her wide Julia Roberts grin. Oh, barf. Spike says, "Imagine, somewhere in the world there's a man who's allowed to kiss her." And he says that to the very guy who had just kissed her that very day! What are the odds of that?    

A day or two passes and Spike tells Will he has a couple messages, but he didn't write them down. Because that's the kind of person he is. He does remember that "an American girl named Anna called a few days ago" and told him she wanted Will to call her at the Ritz under a different name that Spike can't remember since he didn't write the message down. It's really too bad for Will that Smart Phones don't exist in the world yet. How did Anne get his phone number? Did he ever give her his last name so she could look him up in the phone book? While Will is talking to the Ritz and trying to convince them to let them talk to world famous movie star Anna Scott, Spike suddenly remembers the name she used was "Flintstone" and Will is able to get through.

He goes to her hotel suite, but it turns out it's set up for a press junket where journalists are interviewing Anna and other actors for her new film called Helix. When he's asked which magazine he's from, Will sees a copy of Horse and Hound lying on a coffee table nearby and tells the woman he's with that publication. He also uses his real name. Wouldn't they have him on the roster? They must not even have one because they let him in without checking his identification or credentials. This movie definitely lets thing slide so they can tell the story they want to to tell. 

Will is able to go in the private room where Anna is giving her interviews, but her publicist keeps popping in and out, so every time he's in the room, Will has to pretend to be a journalist and ask dumb questions about a movie he hasn't seen and knows nothing about. Keeping with the magazine's theme, he asks if she wanted more horses in it and she replies it would be too difficult since the movie is set in space. She says it in kind of a bitchy tone which I thought was a bit rude since she was the one who got Will in this mess. It's not his fault he hasn't seen this crappy movie (we see a very little clip of it and we hear snippets of what its about and it sounds terrible) and that he has to pretend to be interviewing her. When the publicist is out of the room, Anna does sound apologetic and tells him she thought this would be over by now. Still, she could have arranged a rendez-vous with him without putting him in this awkward position. She also apologizes for "the kissing thing." This prompts Will to ask her if she's busy that night and she says she is. When the publicist brings in the next journalist, Anna tells Will it was nice to meet him and throws in "surreal, but nice", making it full circle, though it absolutely makes no sense why a movie star would say that to a journalist. Will tells her she is Horse and Hounds favorite actress, other than Black Beauty. 

This scene will continue when Will is getting ready to leave, but he ends up having to interview the other actors who are also in the movie. This includes a pre-The O.C. AND a pre-The Sixth Sense (though only by a few months) Mischa Barton. When she tells Will she's been in 22 movies (and this girl can't be older than 12!), he asks her which one was her favorite and she replies the one she did with Leo. Will has no idea who Leonardo DiCaprio is cuz he asks if she means DaVinci (HUH?) and she clarifies who she means. Will still has no idea who this DiCaprio fellow is because he asks her if he's her favorite Italian director. HUH??? How does he know Anna Scott, but has never heard of Leonardo freakin' DiCaprio, who's on the same level of fame (and probably higher!) than Anna Scott?? I know it was played for laughs, but it did not make any sense. This happens a lot in this movie: a scene played for laughs that absolutely makes no sense. 

Anna catches Will before he leaves and tells him she can cancel her plans so she's free that night. Will is happy, but then suddenly realizes it's his sister's birthday and they're supposed to be having dinner with friends. (Dude, I'm sure your sister wouldn't mind if you were missing her birthday dinner to go on a date with a famous movie actress). Anna gets the great idea to invite herself along which I don't fine believable at all. I'm beginning to think she's one of those celebrities who became famous to be famous and does not care about acting at all (she often even jokes she's not that great of an actress!) She invites herself because she knows everybody will be fawning over her. Will has time to call his friends who are hosting the birthday dinner to tell them he's brining a date, but he doesn't have time to give them a heads up that his date just so happens to be the world's most famous actress. 

When they arrive at Max and Bella's house (the couple hosting the party), Bella is about to tell Anna she's the spitting image of Anna Scott, but Will introduces her and she realizes she IS Anna Scott. When Will's sister, Honey (please tell me that is just a nickname), arrives, she is fawning over Anna and it's so awkward. I think Anna herself is even pretty uncomfortable. Honey babbles on, very similar to her brother, so that must have been a hereditary trait passed down to them. She tells Anna, "This is one of those key moments in life when it's possible you can be really genuinely cool and I'm going to fail just 100%. I absolutely, totally, and utterly adore you. I think you are the most beautiful woman in the world." While that's a little cringey, it's not as bad as when she continues on to tell her she believes they could be best friends. WTF? At least form a friendship with her before you tell her you want to be best friends. That's about bordering on obsession stalker territory. She asks Anna what does she think about this and Anna, who is pretty diplomatic in this scenario replies, "Lucky me." Honey then continues to be creepy and quite forward when she tells Anna to marry Will because he's "a really nice guy" and then they can "become sisters." Oh. My. God. Girl, this is their FIRST date. Calm the eff down. I would feel a little bit sorry for Anna, but she is the one who invited herself along. She had to know what she was getting herself into, although I'm sure she didn't think she would be propositioned to be someone's new best friend or ask to get married to the guy she's on a first date with. 

When their unlucky in love stockbroker friend, Bernie (Hugh Bonneville), shows up, he doesn't even recognize Anna at first. He asks her what she does and when she says she acts, he says he used to do some amateur acting and tells her it must be a tough job because "the wages are a scandal." Even though it is extremely rude that he asks how much she made on her last film, I don't think she would reply with 15 million dollars like she does. Realistically, she would probably just tell him she gets by. I would imagine rich people don't like talking about how rich they are, but then, I'm not rich, so what do I know? He does realize who he had been talking to when Anna uses the restroom that Honey eagerly shows her where it is even though she could have found it just fine.

Dinner seems to go by fine and after they've all had a brownie for dessert, there's one left and it is offered as a prize to whoever has "the saddest act here." (Why the hell didn't they just make sure there was two for everyone in the first place!) This is clearly an exposition scene for the audience to learn more about the characters. We learn that Bernie works at a job he doesn't understand and everyone keeps getting promoted above him; Honey doesn't make much money and she attracts "cruel men"; Bella is in a wheelchair and can't have kids. We know that she was in an accident 18 months ago; I think they mention she fell down the stairs? Will is divorced with an unsuccessful profession. (Still, how does have such a nice home?) They are about to let Will take it (really? The woman who is in a wheelchair and can't have children doesn't have the saddest story of them all?), when rich-ass, beautiful, world-beloved and famous Anna Scott whines that she should get a chance to claim the last brownie. Bitch, please. She'd probably just throw it up anyway. I say this because she tells them she's been on a diet since she was 19 as well as she's had a bunch of "not-nice boyfriends", and every time she gets her heart broken, it's all over the newspaper. Oh, and it took two painful operation to look like she does. Um, you were the one who went into a line of work who has high standards for the way you look and of course the tabloids are going to paste your business all over their papers. I don't think the woman in the wheelchair who can't have children asked for those things. The other guests sort of humor her and cluck their tongues in sympathy, but then they're like, Nice try, you're rich and beautiful, so GTFO. (They didn't say it that way exactly, but you know that's what they were thinking). 

Honey continues to be intrusive when Will and Anna are leaving and saying good-bye to everyone and Honey tells her to call her if she ever wants to go shopping because she knows "lots of nice cheap places." Yeah, because the woman who makes $15 million a movie is worried about finding cheap places to shop! Anna, bless her, is super nice and tells Honey she's her "style guru", but it's an obvious lie because those two could not have fashion senses more different. When Anna and Will are outside the house, they hear his friends screaming in excitement and Will tells her they do that every time he leaves. I thought that was one of the funnier scenes in the movie. 

One of the scenes I remember the most is the next one where they're walking and come across a private garden with a locked gate. To impress Anna, Will tries to climb over, but fails and this is where we get him saying "Whoopsie daisies" not only once, but twice, and Anna makes fun of him for that. They both manage to make it over and kiss while they're in front of a beautiful garden and a sappy song starts playing, so you know they're in love. 

We get a montage of them going on dates and doing mushy romantic stuff. After eating dinner together one night, they walk back to Anna's hotel and she invites him up, but tells him to give her five minutes before he arrives. It doesn't make sense why she makes him wait five minutes before he's allowed to enter her suite because she can just primp herself in the bathroom, but they only do this because Anna's movie star boyfriend, Jeff (played by Alec Baldwin), has shown up to surprise her! Ruh-oh! She only has seconds to warn him before Jeff shows his face. I guess we're supposed to think Jeff is some kind of a-hole and while he does make comments about Anna not ordering too much food so she doesn't get fat, he actually comes off better than Anna does in this scene. For one thing, he's not lying to anybody. Anna tells Jeff that Will works at the hotel and is there to take orders for room service. Jeff asks for some water and asks Will if he can clear the dirty dishes and take out the trash. Again, I think the audience is meant to think Jeff is being a jerk for asking Will to do this, but I can't blame him! He thinks the guy works there and he's just asking him if he can clear the dirty dishes and take out the trash. He's not being rude or anything. That seems like a perfectly normal request to ask somebody who works at the hotel. 

I realize this movie takes place before Google was a mainstream thing and even before the Internet was huge, though they did have the Internet back in 1999, so why didn't Will do any research on Anna on the web? Was her relationship with Jeff hidden from the press, so nobody knew about it? Somehow, I doubt that. Also, surely Will's friends and especially his sister, who is Anna Scott-obsessed must have know that Anna had a boyfriend! Why didn't they take Will aside and mention this to him? We will get a scene later with his friends when one of them asks him, "You didn't know she had a boyfriend?" and he replies, "No, did you?" and his friends all look knowingly at each other. SO WHY DIDN'T THEY TELL HIM? For the convenience of the movie's plot, that's why. 

Anyway, Will is obviously hurt that Anna was lying to him that whole time and they break up. His friends start to set him up with different women. We meet Tessa who has frizzy hair and while social, is also very blunt. When she first sees Bella (her first date with Will is a double date with Bella and Max), she exclaims, "Hello! You're in a wheelchair!" She knows Max from somewhere (work, maybe?) and tells Will that Max has told her a lot about him and that he (Will) "is a naughty boy." Now, was this before or after Hugh Grant got busted being caught with prostitute? (I can't take credit for this joke; I heard it on a podcast. And for the record, it was after). But what is she talking about? Nothing about Will screams "naughty". I don't know what kind of stories Max has been telling her! 

The second woman they set him up with refuses to eat a meal because she's a "fruitarian" which means she "believes fruits and vegetables have feelings, so cooking is cruel" and she only eats those that have fallen on the ground since they're "dead" already. The dish she was offered had carrots that were murdered. So I thought this whole fruitarian thing was made up for the movie, but it seems to be a real thing. I understand why people are vegetarians and I respect that, but I don't quite get the point of being a fruitarian. 

The last woman they set him up with, played by Emily Mortimer, seems perfectly normal and she is lovely and beautiful and doesn't have any weird quirks and even Will admits that she is "perfect, absolutely perfect" after she has left the date and his friends ask him what he thought. We then get some interesting backstory on him where we learn that besides Anna, he's only loved two girls, "both total disasters." One was his ex-wife and the other was Bella, who ended up marrying his best friend. Wow, that's got to be awkward that he used to be in love with the woman who married his best friend and now he remains friends with today. He must have gotten over her. I don't know why they had to make that part of his history. Also, he only dated Anna, for what, a month, and he claims he was in love with her? Give me a break! Here he has beautiful and lovely Emily Mortimer (she doesn't have a name in the movie, so I'll just call her by her real name) who clearly likes him and she's not even going to hear back from him because he's too busy swooning over a movie star who will probably dump his ass in six months if they ever got back together. What a chump. I wish they at least had Will date Emily Mortimer so when Anna will shows up at his door months later, there's a bit of a love triangle. But, alas, we will not hear from or see Emily Mortimer anymore in the film. 

Anna shows up because she is upset that nude photos of her taken "years ago" are now in the tabloids. She had them taken before she made it big to make a few bucks. Apparently, someone was filming her as well, "so what was a stupid photo shoot now looks like a porn film." I don't quite understand why these photos and videos are being released now since it appears that Anna has been famous for at least a decade. It doesn't make any sense, but they just need to find a reason for Anna to be upset while she just so happens to be in London for two days and she goes to Will to ask if she can stay with him for awhile so she can hide from the press. Of course Will says she can stay with him because he is in love with her, but we all know that "love" is purely infatuation. We also find out that Anna has broken up with Jeff. 

Two things of note that happen during this time that will come back later in the movie:

1) Will is helping Anna with her lines for her next movie where she saves the world from a nuclear threat. He calls the script "gripping", but it isn't Henry James.

2) They bond over a Chagall painting called La Mariee (pretend there's an accent mark over the first e) that features a violin-playing goat. 

They end up sleeping together and everything is great until it isn't. The next morning while Anna is in the kitchen getting breakfast ready, the doorbell rings and Will answers it wearing his boxers and a t-shirt. He opens the door to find a crapton of paparazzi snapping pics of him and quickly shuts the door. When Anna sees Will's shocked face, she asks him what's going on. He says "nothing" and she says, "You're up to something" and proceeds to open the door only wearing his dress shirt. Why didn't he stop her? And why is she opening the door only wearing his shirt? You would think being a public figure, she would know better. Of course photos get snapped of her dressed like that and she is livid. She accuses Spike of calling the papers and telling them where she was to make "a buck or two." Spike did tell a couple of his friends (it's not like Will told him to keep quiet about it and what do you expect from somebody like Spike? Anna had met him before and knew what he was like) and that's how it got leaked. I can't blame her for being pissed because Will had every opportunity to tell her NOT to open the door, but he didn't until it was too late. She probably still would have been angry that the press was there, but at least they wouldn't get her photo. Will tells her it will be forgotten by the next day and nobody will care anymore because it will be yesterdays' news. But Anna doesn't agree with him and leaves in a huff and once again they are no more. 

I do love the next scene where we see the passing of time as we see an establishing shot of Will walking through the market and they show the seasons changing. At the beginning, we see him pass a pregnant woman, then by the end she has a baby. We also see his sister with a new beau, but by the end, they are arguing. It's a nice way to show the passage of time:

During this time, Bernie has lost his job and at a dinner with friends, Honey announces she's engaged. Turns out it's to Spike. Wha-? How did Will not know his sister was dating his flatmate? How did we not know about this? This must have been a storyline they cut out of the movie...but then why leave in their engagement? Also, I hate that they get engaged because they're the kooky characters. But, whatever, it's not even important and won't be part of the movie anymore and I'm not really sure why it's even in the movie. I am vexed; it vexes me. 

Will finds out that Anna is back in London, filming. (Does she even film in any other city??) Apparently she won a Best Actress Oscar...for Helix, that craptacular sci-fi movie. Um, excuse me, but nobody ever wins acting Oscars for sci-fi movies. Well, thank goodness for Julia Roberts, the movie she actually did win an Oscar for, Erin Brockovich, is better than that movie (and this movie too, let's be honest!) So, I guess in this universe, Anna Scott wins the Oscar instead of Hilary Swank for Boys Don't Cry. I mean, there is clearly some shady stuff going on! 

Anyway, remember I told you to remember a couple of things because they would come back later? Well, turns out Anna is filming an adaptation of a Henry James novel and Will goes to visit her on the set. She sees him and invites him to stay and watch, then they can chat later. He does, but I guess she doesn't know that someone gave him headphones so he can hear the dialogue, and he ends up hearing Anna's co-star ask Anna about him (Will) and Anna just dismisses him (Will, again), saying he's "just some guy from the past" and she doesn't know "what he's doing here." Good Lord, what a bitch! Will must think so too because he just leaves and goes back to work.

Later, Anna comes to the bookstore to bring him a wrapped gift because it make her think of him. (It's the original Chagall painting. Apparently, when they were bonding over it, she forgot to mention that she OWNED the original!) Anna asks if they can spend some together and he replies, "No, bitch, get your hoity-toity ass outta my shop." No, he did not say that. He actually said, "Can I just say "no" to your kind request and leave it at that?" He goes on to tell her they are two different peoples; he's from Notting Hill, she's from Beverly Hills, yada, yada, yada. This is when we get the famous line, "I'm just a girl... standing in front of a boy.... asking him to love her." Will STILL says no, but when he tells his friends later that day what happened, he realizes he made the wrong decision (no, he didn't!) and needs to find her (no, he doesn't!), so he and all his friends drive to the Savoy where she's at a press conference and they get in using their shenanigans. Someone asks her how long she will be in the UK and she replies she will be leaving that night. Will better make his move soon! Lucky for him, another journalists asks about the "graphic photos" taken of her with "some young English guy." First of all, WTF, "graphic photos"? They weren't even nude! Second of all, they weren't even photographed together! Anna replies that he was just friend, then Will, posed as a journalist asks her, "Are there any circumstances in which the two of you might be more than just good friends." Anna realizes it's him and tells him if he would be willing to give her a second chance and Will basically admits he was wrong and Anna announces she will be staying in Britain "indefinitely." Yay. Whoo-wee. We end the movie with them getting married and seeing her pregnant when they're at a park. 

It absolutely makes no sense that he ends up with Anna! I would have loved it if the movie had a twist and he ended up with Emily Mortimer's character. Also, you know those two are no longer together. They should make a sequel about their kid (who would be 22 now). I'm sure we would find out their parents divorced when they were a little kid! 

Many of the scenes that featured the zany roommate, Spike, didn't come off realistic to me. Nobody can be that stupid, can they? Pretty much every scene with Spike infuriated me because he comes off....so unnecessarily stupid and socially inept and his scenes are clearly played for laughs and I just hated this character so, so much:

-There's a scene early on in the movie where he's getting ready for a date (how did get get someone to go out with him in the first place?) and he asks Will which shirt he should wear. The first one he models features a plastic T-rex head and is splattered in red and it reads "I love blood." What the actual f**k? Why would anyone think this would be appropriate to wear on a date or anywhere, for that matter? The second one has an arrow pointing at his genitals and it says "Get it here." Will, of course, is appalled by these shirts. The third shirt Spike wears has a heart and says "You're the most beautiful woman in the world." Will tells him, "That's perfect." WTF, Will? No, it's not. You say, "Don't you own any solid colored shirts?" Encourage him to wear a black or blue or red polo shirt. If I went on a date with a guy who wore a shirt that said that, I would be terrified and totally weirded out. That is CREEPY AF. There is nothing romantic or cutesy about that. When Spike turns around, Will sees it reads "Fancy a f**k?" (Klassy!) and still Will doesn't tell him NOT to wear it. 

Then we get a scene of Spike eating something and he tells Will there's something wrong with the yogurt, who replies, "It's not yogurt; it's mayonnaise" and Spike continues to eat it! Ugh, why? It would have been more believable if the yogurt was just expired and he continued to eat it because he didn't mind the taste of it. 

At one point, we see him wearing Will's wet suit (from a vacation he took once) because he doesn't have any clean clothes because he never does laundry. This is only in the movie because Will says the goggles are prescriptions and we see him wearing them at the movies when he's dating Anna because he can't find his glasses. I'm sorry, but if you're trying to impress a girl, especially one who is a MOVIE STAR, you're not going to wear your stupid scuba diving goggles because you look like a COMPLETE moron! Well, lucky for him, Anna seems to think it's charming. 

During the time Anna is staying with Will, she takes a bubble bath in the bathroom. Spike, who had been reading the tabloids that features Anna's nude photos, walks into the bathroom, sees Anna in the tub with the bubbles surrounding her, then walks out and thanks God. And she acts like it's no big deal; like she was suspecting Will's flatmate to walk in on her while she was in the tub. You would think she would LOCK the door! 

If you're looking for another  Richard Curtis romance, I would recommend About Time which also has an interesting premise. I should mention that Richard Curtis did not direct Notting Hill, but he did write it. I've never see Four Weddings and a Funeral, so I can't say if that's better or not than this one. That's one I should put on my list of movies to review. 

de profundis clamo ad te domine

The Sixth Sense

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Donnie Wahlberg

Released: August 6, 1999

Viewed in theaters: March 4, 2000

Oscar nominations:

Best Picture (lost to American Beauty)

Best Director - M. Night Shyamalan (lost to Sam Mendes for American Beauty)

Best Supporting Actor - Haley Joel Osment (lost to Michael Caine for The Cider House Rules)

Best Supporting Actress - Toni Collette (lost to Angelina Jolie for Girl, Interrupted)

Best Original Screenplay - M. Night Shyamalan (lost to Alan Ball for American Beauty)

Best Editing (lost to The Matrix)

"You know the accident up there?"

"Yeah."

"Someone got hurt."

"They did?"

"A lady. She died."

"Oh my God. What, you can see her?"

"Yes."

"Where is she?"

"Standing next to my window."

Brrrrrr, it got a little chilly in here! I get goosebumps every time I watch that scene. I STILL remember seeing the trailer for this movie and that was the first thing they showed and I was so creeped out by it! Of course, in the trailer they used a different take and he tells his mom that the lady "broke her neck". 

Do I even need to put a spoiler warning for this movie? Everybody and their grandmother has seen this movie, right? Actually, being that this movie is 17 years old, there is a whole new generation that has yet to see this movie, and hopefully they will able to enjoy it spoiler-free. I look forward to my two nieces seeing it one day. As they are only four and a year old, they are much too young to see it now! With that said, yes, obviously there are spoilers, so if you are perhaps discovering this movie for the first time, please see it before reading the rest of this review. 

I have a lot of history with this movie. As you can see, I didn't actually see it until seven months after its theatrical release. I saw it when it came out during its Oscar re-release. I didn't see it in its initial run because I hate scary movies, but then my brother convinced me to see it, that it wasn't scary at all. He was right; it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, though plenty of scenes made me jump the first time I saw it. It's definitely more on the psychological thriller side than horror. After I saw the movie with a friend (we went to a 9 PM showing and I will admit, I did have a little trouble falling asleep that night, shut up!), I called my brother the next day because I absolutely loved it and there was SO MUCH to discuss! I even had a four hour conversation about it with my mom (who had also recently seen it) during a road trip. I even remember eating lunch at a pizza place and there was this couple near me and I could hear them talking about Mischa Barton's character from the movie and I soooo wanted to jump in and offer my opinion (can't remember exactly what they were discussing), but I didn't because I'm not the type of person to jump in strangers' conversations! 

In fact, there was so much to discuss about this movie, that I even made a website dedicated to this movie! Yes, it was my very first (and only) website. It was amazing; I wish I still had it, but I think it's in cyber heaven now. I made it with Angelfire....haha, remember Angelfire? High five if you do! I think it was called "Sara's Sixth Sense Site." That would make sense because I do like alliteration. I even remember the home page was the photo on the right of Haley Joel Osment and the text above it read in large red letters, "Do you dare enter the world of The Sixth Sense? Come at your own risk. Remember, not every gift is a blessing. Yo no quiero morir."  You clicked on the photo to enter the site. I had red text (because red was an important color in that movie) with a black background. Oh, man, I wished I still had access to this! I had so many features to my site, including FAQs. One of the questions was, "Did Cole know Malcolm was a ghost?" and 2000 me can't remember what I put, but present day me would say, Well, duh, of course he knew! He knew the difference between the living and the dead, RIGHT?!?!? And I had a question about whether the woman who poisoned Kyra (the Mischa Barton ghost) was her mom or stepmom, but I can't remember what I thought back then. They never actually say if she's the mom or stepmom. It has to be a stepmom because no mother could poison their own child, right? It would just be too horrible!  I think I even had the question, "What are triangle pancakes?" because I had never heard of those is my life. I assume they're pancakes in the shapes of triangles? I know, duh, Sara, but I have never heard of such a thing! Must be a Philly thing. Other features on my site included photos, a guest book, songs that reminded me of the movie, and a list of things that might indicate if you're obsessed with The Sixth Sense. Some of these included items like, "When someone tells you a  corny joke and you reply, 'I didn't know you were funny'" and "You wear glasses without the lenses". My favorite thing about my site was that I ranked all of the ghosts on a scale from 1-10 in terms of their scariness and I gave a little backstory about each one. If I remember right, I think I ranked the woman in the kitchen pretty high. You know, the one who screams at Cole (Osment), "You can't hurt me anymore!" and shows him her wrists in which she obviously committed suicide to get away from her abusive husband. OMG, she was so scary! Terrifying! She still scares me to this day! The other ghosts did scare me the first time I saw this movie, but she's the only one who really still scares the sh*t out of me!

After I saw The Sixth Sense and the Oscars aired, I was really impressed that an eleven-year-old was nominated for an Oscar (yes, I realize Anna Paquin was the same age when she WON her Oscar in '94, but I didn't start watching the Oscars until a couple years after). I joined an HJO message board where I met some great people. I'm even Facebook friends with a few I've met there. I created my site in the summer of 2000 (June 20, 2000, to be exact, but who's keeping track?) and posted a link. After sifting through many messages, I found a couple that complimented me about my site. I don't mean to toot my own horn, (okay, maybe a little!), but let's take a look shall we? Here's one message:

 Sara, 
I just wanted to say that your page is excellent!! One whole month is a lot of time to put into something, and let me tell you, that was time well spent! I haven't seen all of your site, but I checked out most of it, and it really is great (not to mention that you thanked me and Mandi for providing you with the "you know your obsessed when...stuff! hehe that made it even better that my name was on it!!j/k) But really, thanks for the site, it's on my favorites, cause I know I will be checking back there a lot.

LOL, apparently I made a big deal that it took me an ENTIRE MONTH to create this site. OMG, shut up, 2000 me!

Here is another very sweet message somebody wrote to me:

Sara,
I just had to tell you how proud I am of you!! Your page is very well done and I love the pictures. All of your hard work has paid off! You're a very talented and smart girl whom I admire greatly. Keep up the good work and be proud of yourself! Everyone go check out Sara's Web page, it's very cool!

Here's another one:
Sara's site is super, I've never seen a sixth sense site that even slightly resembles Sara's. Sara included lots and lots of new and very informative information and facts in her site. There are many sites about T6S, but Sara's is the greatest (God knows that I'm not saying this only to please Sara who's a regular in this board ). Unlike other sites, Words and text information spoke louder than pictures. This is why I believe that Sara's site is the best so far. It's not only pics and basic shallow few facts..but really Sara got in to the real deep concept of the movie, I'm sure this reflects Sara's own personality. She managed to -perfectly- analyze the movie and to answer every debatable scenes. It was very hard for me to leave her site after I firstly visited it. She also included very scientific concepts that the movie tackled. I have to admit, I enjoyed everything Sara did, and I do admire her talents.

Obviously, I should have won an award for my Sixth Sense site. It was an amazing site; it truly was. I really miss my awesome Sixth Sense site and wish I still had it. It would be interesting to see what I had written about it sixteen years ago.

Okay, I know what you're thinking. Shut up already about my Sixth Sense site from sixteen years ago that doesn't even exist anymore and get on with the review!

Don't you love the scene where child psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is telling Cole this really lame story about a family driving and Cole tells him that he needs to add "twists and stuff" to make his story more interesting. It was right there in front of our faces the entire time! And when Cole tells Malcolm, "I see dead people" and they zoom in on Willis's face. I feel like this movie started the whole twists trend, although obviously there have been twists in movies long before this one (The Usual Suspects comes to mind). I do think it was clever the reason his wife, Anna (Olivia Williams), never talked to him was because he thought she was mad at him and was giving him the cold shoulder. When he goes to the restaurant, he thinks she's mad at him because she was late and I like the touch of him not moving the chair when he sits down and when the check comes, she grabs it just a second before he's about to get it. Looking at that scene now, how depressing is it that she went to the restaurant her dead husband proposed to her on their anniversary? I think I would rather just stay home and drink a bottle of wine and cry. Can you imagine the conversation she had with the waiter?
Waiter: "Are you here to celebrate a special occasion?"
Anna: "Yes, it's my husband's and my [whatever number of years] anniversary."
Waiter: "Marvelous! Where is the lucky man?"
Anna: "Oh, he's dead. He was shot by a former patient in our bedroom and died in my arms, but I couldn't not come here on our anniversary. This is where he proposed to me."
Waiter: "Uh....our best bottle of champagne is on the house tonight."
I just wrote Sixth Sense fanfic, y'all! But seriously, that scene seems a little contrived now because nobody would ever do that!

I like that he can never open the door to the basement to get in his office and it always looks like he's reaching into his pocket to get a key, but towards the end it is revealed that there's a desk with a huge stack of book blocking the way. Remember, as Cole told him, "They only see what they want to see!"

One thing that really doesn't make any sense, now that I think about it (this movie always seems to produce more questions than answers!) is how Dr. Crowe and Cole became acquainted. When you watch it, not knowing the twist, you don't question it. It's a year after the incident with his former child patient, Vincent Grey (Donnie Wahlberg) and we see Malcolm outside of Cole's home with notes about him. He follows him to the church and says they were suppose to have a session that day, but he missed his appointment. (Um, how does an effing child psychologist miss his appointments? Good Lord, even the awful hack "child psychologist" from The Good Son never missed her appointments!) But if you're watching this, KNOWING the twist, it doesn't make any sense how a dead man could set up an appointment. Although there is a note saying that Cole was referred to him in 1998, when he was still alive, so maybe he had all the information about this kid, but hadn't taken him on as a patient yet? IDK! Maybe I just answered my own question.

Just like how they try to fool you with Malcolm and Anna, I think it's very clever how they try to fool you with Malcolm and Cole's mom, Lynn (Toni Collette). I was fooled, but now watching it knowing the twist, it's like, of course! The scene when Cole comes home from school and Lynn and Malcolm are sitting opposite each other in the living room should be one of the first giveaways that Cole knows he's a ghost. I feel like any other kid would have mentioned Dr. Crowe being there, but Cole doesn't say anything; granted, he is an odd child at times. When you watch this for the first time and Lynn tell him she's going to make him those famous triangle pancakes and that he "has an hour", you think, oh, she's referring to his session, but apparently it takes an hour to make triangle pancakes! You also notice Cole doesn't talk to Dr. Crowe during his mind-reading game as not to make his mom suspicious, but then he does talk later about the rainbow drawing, so never mind! Also, I don't know if you caught this, because it's easy to dismiss and I didn't catch it until my third viewing, but after Cole tells Malcolm, "They don't have meetings about rainbows", you see him turn his head and looks up, then down. He was so looking at a dead person, I know he was! I think it was his grandmother since he didn't seem to be too scared and the grandmother and the lady who died in the fire at his school (the one who helped him before the play) seemed to be the nicer ghosts who he talked to. The lady who died in the fire was the reason he knew about his teacher being called "Stuttering Stanley".

The other scene with Lynn and Dr. Crowe in the same room is after the birthday party when Cole has gone through that traumatic experience and they're trying to figure out what happened to him. Dr. Shyamalan tells them (but really only her) that the cuts and bruises on Cole is concerning him and wants her to talk to a social worker.

It's been a few years since I last saw this movie and I forgot that the first time you see a ghost, it's nearly an hour into the movie. (Okay, if you want to be technical, the first time you see a ghost, it's ten minute into the movie, but we're not suppose to know about that! Shhhh!) Now you do hear the ghost that was on the other side of that door at the birthday party Cole attends. (By the way, do yourself a favor and go to Spotify and play "Head" by Tin Star...it's the song from that scene). The first ghost you see is the Suicide Ghost, the one that scared me the most. Of course, earlier in the movie we have an interaction with her although we never saw her. This scene startled me quite a bit the first time I saw this movie and even when you know it's coming, it's still quite startling. It also seems like it's just one long camera take from the moment Lynn takes Cole's tie into the laundry room to get a spot out and retrieve a new one for him, then turns right around to walk back into the kitchen and many of the cabinets and drawers are open. Supposedly there is a very quick cut when she enters the other room, but it's so flawless you can't even tell. I was wondering how they did that!

Cole is afraid of the ghosts (as anybody would be!), so Malcolm suggests he help them. This is a turning point in the movie. The main ghosts he helps is that of a young girl named Kyra (a pre-The OC Mischa Barton) aka Puke Girl. That scene where she's revealed with vomit coming out of her mouth in his tent is absolutely terrifying! I find Kyra to be the most fascinating of all the ghosts, as she has the biggest arc out of any of them (and I'm sure 2000 me would agree), but there are so many questions. First of all, why does she even need Cole's help to play the video indicating her (step)mom poisoned her? She (and all the other ghosts) seem very capable of handling physical objects. She pushes the box containing the video in it out from under her bed when Cole enters her creepy bedroom filled with marionettes and porcelain dolls. Really, could they have made her room even more creepier? Also, why is she hiding under the bed? Doesn't she know she's a ghost? Oh, right, Cole tells Malcolm, "They don't know they're dead"....BUT if Kyra doesn't know she's dead, then why is she giving Cole the tape implicating her (step)mom poisoned her? Unless she thinks she's still alive and wants to save her sister, who they say is starting to become sick now? But couldn't she do that if she was still alive? ALSO...she KNEW she was being poisoned when she was alive, right? Because that's why she kept the camera rolling when Mommy Dearest came in with the poisoned soup during her marionette plays. But if she knew she was being poisoned, why the eff was she eating the soup? As I mentioned earlier, I assumed the woman was Kyra's stepmom, but honestly, they never say one way or another if she's a stepmom or the biological mother. Remember when I overheard a couple at a pizza place talking about this scene? I'm pretty sure they were discussing this same exact thing! They were also probably wondering why a parent could do such a thing to a child. I wondered the same and did some research. I think it was my mom who told me about Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Now if you've ever seen the TV show House, they did an episode about this. I also talked about it at length in my Sixth Sense site. Here is what Wikipedia says about it (the bold is emphasized by me): "In Munchausen syndrome by proxy, an adult caregiver makes a child or elderly person appear mentally or physically ill or impaired by either fabricating symptoms or actually causing harm to the child or elderly person to gain the attention of medical providers and others. To perpetuate the medical relationship, the caregiver systematically misrepresents symptoms, fabricates signs, manipulates laboratory tests, or even purposely harms the child (e.g. by poisoning, suffocation, infection, physical injury)." That's some scary stuff. Nice touch having the (step)mom wear red to the funeral while everyone was wearing black.

My favorite scene in the movie, as I'm sure it is for many other people, is the scene I quoted from above, when Cole and his mother are in the car and Cole reveals his secret to her. It is very emotional when he tells her that his grandma, her mother, talks to him sometimes and she's the one who keeps taking the bumblebee pendant Lynn gets mad at him for taking. Even after watching this movie numerous times, I still teared up when Cole tells his mother that his grandma told him that Lynn came to her grave site and asked her a question and the answer was "Everyday" and Cole wanted to know what his mother asked and Lynn replies, "Do I make her proud?" Toni Collette is so good in this movie and she knocked it out of the park with that scene (as well as Osment, of course). I was shocked (-shocked!-) when I learned she was Australian. 

I think Shyamalan found lighting in a bottle with this movie; I don't think he was ever going to top it. I did see Unbreakable and Signs and I did like those movies, though I haven't seen Unbreakable since its theatrical release and I honestly don't remember anything about it, so I would like to revisit it. I've seen Signs twice and I did enjoy it, despite one very stupid thing (which I don't want to say because I'm not reviewing that movie right now so I don't want to spoil anything, but those of you have seen it, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about!). I also saw The Village, but I thought the twist was a let down. The movie as a whole was okay. I haven't seen anything since that one and I'm kind of glad because they all look pretty terrible. I have seen video reviews of some of those movies and it looks like I wasn't missing anything! However, The Sixth Sense is one of my all time favorite movies. I wouldn't make a site dedicated to it if it wasn't!

I have breaking news....

OMG, YOU GUYS!!!!! OH MY GOD.....I FOUND MY SIXTH SENSE SITE!!!!!! You don't know how HAPPY this makes me! I was able to find a link to the page that includes all the other links to all my features. Now the site is still down and it's all just a bunch of HTML gibberish and there's no black background with photos and red text, but the text is still there. You KNOW I have to share it with you! This was my introduction page. I've copied and pasted so I can get rid of the gibberish and it will be easier to read:

When The Sixth Sense first came out in August 1999, I wasn’t crazy to see it for two reasons: 
1) Bruce Willis was in it (C’mon, you have to admit he’s not the world’s greatest actor!)
2) When I saw the movie trailer, it just scared the living crap out of me. (I’m afraid of dead people.) 

I'm assuming most of you saw the movie when it came out in August. Well, I didn't. I saw it in March when it was re-released in theaters. I saw the trailer for The Sixth Sense when my two friends and I went to see South Park in the summer of '99. When I saw the scene where Cole says "Standing next to my window," I got shivers down my spine. When I heard him say "I see dead people," I thought, there is no way in hell I am going to see that movie. You don't understand my fear of dead people. I am utterly afraid of dead people. I've had these awful dreams and I am just mortally afraid of them. When I got to funerals (I've only been to three in my life - so far), I cannot look in the coffin because it freaks me out so much. You don't understand what a baby I am about this, but it scared the living you know what out of me! Oh, yeah, and I didn't want to see it because I don't like scary movies. (I guess it's classified more as a "psychological thriller", though.)

My friend who knows I hate scary movies saw it and she said, "Sara, don't see that movie!" But when I asked other people like my roommate and my brother who saw it, they said it wasn't that scary. And over Christmas Break my brother convinced my mom and I that we had to see it. I knew there was a "twist" at the ending and I begged him to tell me, but he wouldn't. And I'm glad he didn't! He convinced me that it wasn't scary at all. And when I saw that this movie had been nominated for Best Picture and young Haley Joel Osment had gotten a nomination got best Supporting Actor, I was becoming more curious. I mean, it's not every day when an eleven year old gets nominated for an Oscar! It soon began to grow more and more popular and when it was nominated for six Oscars, I decided to finally go see it and see what the fuss was all about. My friend Amanda and I went to see it at a Lawrence theater on March 4, 2000 at 9:20 p.m. (Yes, I still have the movie stub!) I was surprised that the theater was near full. I didn't think there would be that many people since it was re-released. But after seeing the movie, I understood why the theater was full. The minute we sat down, the lights go off and the trailer for Erin Brockovich comes on. (Talk about perfect timing!) 

You know what's really pathetic? I was scared at the first scene. I thought a dead person was going to jump out at us! But then I relaxed and then got a little tense when Vincent appeared. But then after that, I relaxed and enjoyed the movie. It wasn't until the party scene where I began to feel my heart beating out of my chest for the rest of the movie. From the moment Cole is locked in that closet till the very end, I was clenching my stomach so tight and had my hands ready to reflex quickly to my eyes if I needed to! But I'm proud to say that I never had to leave the theater and I never completely covered my eyes. (Although I did have to look away for a second when I saw that boy's half blown off head - ugh.) 

Well, it turned out that I absolutely fell in love with it. I did jump a few times, and it did scare me, but at least I didn’t have nightmares. (Although I did have trouble falling asleep that night and I kept waking up, thinking about the movie. Plus it didn’t help that my white robe hanging on my closet door looked like a ghost!) I saw it three times in two months. It’s one of those movies that you think might not be good to view after you’ve seen it a first time because you know already know the ending, but I think it gets better and better the more times you watch it. There are so many things you can catch that you missed on your first viewing. 

Because I love The Sixth Sense so much, I decided to make a website dedicated to one of my favorite movies. I don't think I'll ever get sick of this movie. I could talk about it forever. The day after I saw it, I called my mom and brother to analyze the whole movie with them. Then a week later when I went home for spring break, my mom and I talked about the movie for four hours on the drive home. (Hey, it made the time go quick!)

In this site you’ll find my opinions about the movie,  questions and answers, quotes, biographies and lots of other fun stuff! If you haven’t seen the movie, I’ve put an asterisk (*) by any links I feel might give away the deep dark secret revealed in the movie. (But hopefully you have seen it by now!) I’m not very experienced when it comes to making webpages and this is my first one, so please keep that in mind! 
And please remember to sign the guestbook before you leave! Thank you!

The Sixth Sense is about a young boy, Cole Sear, (Haley Joel Osment) who can see dead people. He doesn’t want his mother, Lynn, (Toni Collette) to know because he’s scared that she’ll think he’s a freak. The only person he feels he can confide in and can help him with his problem is child psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis). Dr. Crowe is determined to help him after he has failed one of his former patients, Vincent Gray (Donnie Walbergh). But he soon finds out that helping Cole takes too much time away from him being with his wife, Anna (Olivia Williams). But in the end he discovers a shocking secret about himself, making the audience ponder, Was it Malcolm who helped Cole or was it Cole who helped Malcolm? 

And here are my FAQs which I found amusing. I can tell you right now that nobody ever e-mailed me to ask these questions; I just acted like people did and I was answering them! Haha!

Q: What is the name of the song that is played during the birthday party scene? 
 A: That’s Head by Tin Star. Unfortunately, it’s not on the soundtrack. 
 
Q: Trevor Morgan (Tommy Tammisimo) looks familiar, but I can’t quite replace him. Where have I seen him before? 
A: If you’re a religious watcher of  ER, you’ve probably seen him as Dr. Anspaugh’s son who had cancer. Plus he's been in a lot of movies since  The Sixth Sense, including The Patriot, Jurassic Park 3, The Glass House, and The Rookie. 
 
Q: What was the name of the product Tommy Tammisimo was endorsing in his commercial? 
 A: That was Pedia Ease, a cough syrup medicine for children. It’s a made-up product, but there is Pedia Care. 

Q: What is the significance of the color red in the movie? 
A: If you have a good eye (or if you’ve seen the movie multiple times!), you’ll notice that many items in The Sixth Sense are red: the doorknob, the balloon, the sweater Cole wears at the birthday party, the dress that Anna wears at the restaurant, the doors to the church, the sweater Lynn wears in the car, Cole’s tent, the light bulb, the box containing the videotape, the Zoloft pills, the religious figure Cole steals from the church, the frame, the ink of the pen that Cole wrote his “upset words” with and the dress the mother of Kyra wears at the funeral to name a few. M. Night Shyamalan explains that “anything that’s tainted from the [ghost] world or has a connection to the other side” is colored red. 

Q: Why did Cole and Vincent have a patch of white in their hair? 
A: Cole and Vincent were the only ones who could see dead people, remember? Shyamalan wanted them to share a physical trait. According to some researchers it is natural for one to loose pigment in their hair when they experience trauma. 

Q: Did Cole know that Malcolm was a ghost? 
A: This is one of those questions I’ve seen debated numerous times, but in my opinion (and lots of other people’s I know), I do believe he did know. Remember when Cole was walking fast to the church when Malcolm was following him? Well, he looked scared and I think he sensed that something was wrong. Plus, I think if you did have this ability, you could probably tell a live person from a dead person. 
 

Ahhhh! So 2000 me agrees with present day me! Good to know! I do know myself!

Q: Why doesn’t Cole’s breath show when he’s around Malcolm? 
A: Because it only gets cold when ghosts get angry. Malcolm gets upset in the end when he finds out he’s dead and hence we see Anna’s breath. Also, remember the scene where Kyra was unbuttoning Cole’s tent? You could see his breath then, but when he went back to her and pulled the blanket off her, you no longer saw his breath. 
 
Q: How come Cole never told Malcolm he was dead? 
A: I’m not sure about this one, but I think he wanted Malcolm to figure that out on his own. 

 Plus it would spoil the movie!

Q: How much money has The Sixth Sense grossed so far? 

A: According to IMDB.com it’s made an estimated amount of $661,500,000 worldwide. 
 
Q: How does The Sixth Sense rate in terms of top grossing movies of all time? 
A: In the United States, it is the 14th biggest movie (so far). It used to be the tenth, but movies like Spider-Man, Harry Potter, and  Lord of the Rings pushed it out of the way. Worldwide, it is the 13th biggest movie of all time (so far). 

Obviously those movies I listed didn't exist back in 2000, but I did see I last updated my site in 2003.

Q: Why did Kyra’s mother poison her daughter? 
 
A: She had a condition called Munchausen by proxy. It's when a parent purposely harms their child to get attention. 
 
Q: Wait! You're confusing me! What is that disease? Mun-what? 
 A: This is from the  Encarta Encyclopedia: I INTRODUCTION Munchausen Syndrome, mental illness in which a person intentionally deceives health-care professionals into believing he or she is ill. People with this disorder migrate from hospital to hospital, attempting to get admitted by continually faking or producing symptoms of illness. They embellish their medical histories with dramatic stories to attract attention, and they willingly undergo tests and treatments-even surgery-for contrived physical or psychological ailments. The term "Munchausen's syndrome" was coined in 1951 by British physician Richard Asher, who adapted it from the surname of Baron Münchhausen. The baron, a German cavalry officer in the 18th century, had acquired an erroneous reputation as a pathological liar who greatly exaggerated his adventures. People with Munchausen syndrome intentionally mislead others about their health and assume the sick role typically because they want to be cared for and nurtured. In contrast, patients with hypochondriasis are preoccupied with illness because they misinterpret bodily sensations as evidence of serious disease (see Hypochondria). In malingering, people fabricate medical symptoms or illnesses in pursuit of specific external goals, such as qualification for disability payments or evasion of military service. Munchausen syndrome represents the most extreme and chronic variant of a group of similar mental ailments called factitious disorders. Doctors diagnose factitious disorders in approximately 1 percent of hospital patients who receive psychiatric evaluations. Individuals with Munchausen syndrome tend to be men who are unmarried, unemployed, and estranged from their families. II SYMPTOMS People with Munchausen syndrome or other factitious disorders may claim medical symptoms in a variety of ways. These include (1) total fabrication, such as falsely claiming to be HIV-positive; (2) simulation, such as mimicking a seizure; (3) illness aggravation, such as manipulating a wound so it will not heal; and (4) illness induction, such as injecting oneself with bacteria to cause infection. The maladies may either be relatively common, or so esoteric that most physicians would have only a passing familiarity with them. The most frequently fabricated physical signs include anemia, rash, fever, and bleeding. Factitious psychological disorders, in which people fabricate emotional symptoms such as depression, are much less common. In Munchausen syndrome by proxy, also called factitious disorder by proxy, one person (usually a parent) produces symptoms in another (usually his or her child) to experience the sick role vicariously. For example, a mother may induce vomiting or diarrhea in her child with over-the-counter drugs, then present the child for treatment while denying knowledge of the origin of the problem. The parent also may falsely report symptoms and alter laboratory data. Ailments commonly falsified or induced in Munchausen syndrome by proxy include seizures, apnea (cessation of breathing), vomiting, and fever. III CAUSES Many psychiatrists believe that Munchausen patients have suffered emotional neglect or deprivation in their past and that their "disease forgery" becomes a way of receiving attention and support. At the same time, people with this disorder combat a poor sense of self-identity by assuming the well-defined role of a sick person. Duping medical professionals also helps stifle feelings of weakness and vulnerability. A hypothesis that brain abnormalities cause Munchausen syndrome remains unproved. IV TREATMENT Patients diagnosed with Munchausen syndrome rarely consent to treatment of their disorder. Instead, when confronted with their ruse, they generally flee and continue their deceptions elsewhere. Non confrontational strategies, such as behavior modification, have been effective in selected cases. For motivated patients, psychotherapy can both enhance insight and provide the nurturance they once obtained through falsified illness. Medications such as antidepressants may be effective when the patients have additional mental illnesses. When addressing Munchausen syndrome by proxy, doctors focus on ensuring the ongoing safety of the child. 
 
Q: Was the woman who killed Kyra her mother or stepmother? 
A: I’m not really sure about this one. In my opinion, I believe it was her real mother. That’s what the script says. It doesn’t exactly say in the movie. I’ve asked many people this question and half think she’s the mother and the other half think she’s the stepmother. 
 

Interesting....2000 me thought it was her real mother while present day me thinks it's her stepmom. I don't remember reading a script. I guess we will never know for sure.  

Q: How did Cole know that his teacher stuttered when he was a child? 
A: Remember the scene where Cole is getting ready to play King Arthur in the play and his teacher told him how their was a fire in that part of the school? And remember before that when the burnt lady was helping Cole with his makeup? The lady had died in the fire and I do believe she’s the one who told Cole about “Stuttering Stanley.” 
 
Q: Why did the dog run and hide under the bed when the boy who shot himself in the head appeared? 
A: I don’t think the dog could see him, but animals have instincts and the dog could probably feel a presence in the house. 
 
Q: Was the battered suicide woman (the one we see in the kitchen) the same ghost who opened up all the cabinets at the beginning of the movie? 
A: Yes, she was. If you’re not hiding your eyes behind your eyes, you can see that all the cabinets are open when she yells at Cole. 
 
Q: Were there any ghosts besides Malcolm that Cole wasn’t afraid of? 
A: Yes, he was not afraid of his grandmother or the teacher who died in the school fire. Also, I read that he learned Latin from a priest who had died at the church. Whether or not that is true, I don’t know.
 
Q. How did Malcolm get a hold of those files about Cole? 
A: I think he had those files before he died; that’s the best explanation I can come up with. 

Q: Why can’t Malcolm open the door to the basement? 
A: He thinks it’s locked, which is why he’s always searching his pocket for the key, when in fact Anna had blocked the door with a table because Malcolm’s office is downstairs and she’s trying to shut out memories of him. The audience doesn’t see the table until we find out Malcolm is dead. Of course he gets downstairs because he’s a ghost and can walk through the door, but he refuses to acknowledge that he’s broken any physical laws. 

Q: What was the poison Kyra was gradually killed from? 
A: I’m not sure exactly what it was, but I’m told it was floor cleaning solution. 

Q: Would you recommend the soundtrack to me? 
A: Yes! Even thought the songs are short, it's a great soundtrack (with very creepy music). I like De Profundis (the song played at the very beginning) and Malcolm is Dead. (The song they played at the end, although I think they should have changed the title of that song!) 

Q: Where did Cole get all those religious figurines he had in his tent? Did he steal them from the church like he did with that one statue? 
A: I’m guessing he did. (Tisk, tisk! Stealing from a church!) 

Q: How does Lynn afford to send Cole to a private school when she’s juggling with two jobs? And how does she afford a Volvo? 
A: I have no idea! In the movie you got the impression they were struggling with the money. But perhaps her mother had some money and gave her it when she died? (Hey, maybe that bumblebee pendant is worth some money!) 
 

Q: What are triangle pancakes? 
 A: I’ve never heard of them, but I’m guessing they’re pancakes in the shape of triangles. Duh. Perhaps they’re a Philadelphia treat? 
 

And the last segment I'll share (because I don't need to make this any longer than it already is!) is my ranking of the ghosts.

My analysis of each ghost complete with a “Scary rating” from 1-10 (1 = not very scary, 10 = very scary)
The Woman in the kitchen:
This is the first ghost that we actually see in the movie. (Well, except for Malcolm, but we weren’t suppose to know he was a ghost at that point!) She was the one wearing the pink bathrobe and was in the kitchen, the one who Cole thought was his mother. (I knew it wasn’t though!) She was actually in one of the first scenes although we didn’t see her. Did you notice how all the cabinet doors were open? Well, she was the one who had opened them all the morning that Cole was eating his Cocoa Puffs and his mother was doing the laundry. I got the impression she committed suicide by slashing her wrists (that would explain her slashed wrists!) because her husband was abusing her (that would explain her bruised face). Remember when she started yelling at Cole. Well, I assume she was yelling her husband’s name at him and that’s why she was so angry. 
Scary rating: 9.. I have seen this movie numerous times and every time she walks by when Cole is in the bathroom I ALWAYS jump or scream!   

Still true. 

Gunboy: 
Well, I’m guessing you know who this ghost is! You’re right, it’s the young teenage boy from the seventies with the back of his head blown off. Obviously he killed himself by his comment to Cole, “Come on, I’ll show you where my dad keeps my gun.” He wasn’t murdered and he didn’t commit suicide. He was probably just playing with his dad’s gun and accidentally shot himself and blew out his brains. How nice. 
Scary rating: 7…. Well, at least he didn’t yell at Cole, but that line was just beyond creepy and when he turned around, oh Lord! The first time I saw that I thought I was going to be sick!

The three ghosts hanging in the school:
This appears to be a family: there is a man, a woman, and a young boy. Like Cole told his teacher when he was in class, their school was used to hang people back in the 1700s. The man is black, the woman is white, and the child is bi-racial, so they were hung for racial reasons. 
Scary rating: 4 … There’s only one shot of them, and even though they are a little bit blue, they aren’t that scary. They don’t scream at Cole and they don’t have blood or guts gushing out of them.

The burnt lady:
This is the lady who was helping Cole “practicing his lines.” She died when there was a fire in the theater. She was a teacher and taught Mr. Cummingham when he was a student at the school. We learn that from Mr. Cummingham who tells Cole that. I’m pretty sure she was the one who told Cole about “Stuttering Stanley.” And she is one of the few ghosts that Cole is not afraid of. 
Scary rating: 7 … She seemed really sweet, but I didn’t know she was a ghost until Mr. Cummingham comes in and asks Cole who’s he talking to and she turns around and you can see all of that side is burnt. That really freaked me out!

Biker lady: 

This was the dead person Cole was referring to when his mother asked, “Where is she?” and he replied, “Standing next to my window.” She was riding her book and broke her neck in the car accident and instantly died. 

Scary rating: 4 … a little creepy looking but not too frightening.

Kyra Collins:
I thought Kyra Collins was the most complex and interesting and had the saddest story of the ghosts. Here is a young girl, of about twelve, who was poisoned by her own mother. When I first saw her I thought she had died of bulimia because she was puking and looked super skinny. I still have a lot of unanswered questions about her death, but this is my theory of why she died: Her mother had Munchausen by proxy which you can read more about if you go to Questions and Answers. Basically what it is, is when a mother purposelessly harms their child to get more attention. By the father’s comment to the mother, “You were keeping her sick,” my theory is that the mother was the one who got her sick in the first place, making it gradual at first until there was so much poison in Kyra’s body that she died.  I’m guessing that Kyra sort of figured out what her mother was doing to her and that’s why she taped it. But that just gets me even more confused. If she knew what her mother was doing, why would she keep on eating the soup, and how would she know somebody would see the tape after she died? (Remember all those tapes she had in the room), Or perhaps I’m over analyzing too much? Maybe she was just video taping her puppet show and left it on accidentally when her mother gave her the bowl of soup. But obviously after she died, she had to get Cole to help her to give the tape to her dad to show her how he died because her little sister was beginning to get sick too and she didn’t want her to die.
 

Haha, I love how 2000 me has the same burning questions as present day me.  

Scary rating: 8…. A very sweet little girl, she probably was but she scared me when she was unbuttoning Cole’s tent and puke was coming out of her mouth, when Cole pulled the blanket off of her, and when she grabbed Cole’s foot from under her bed. (The first time I saw that, it nearly gave me a heart attack!) Also, I was a little creeped out by her room with all those hand and finger puppets. And the scene when she's under the bed and her hand reaches out and grabs Cole? That freaked me out just a tad!
 

The ghost in the closet: 

This is a ghost in the movie we don’t see, but I would have liked to out of curiosity. He is the ghost Cole gets attacked by when he is at Darren’s birthday party and Darren and Tommy Tammisimo throw him in the storage locker when they tell him they’re going to put on a play called “Locked in the Dungeon” and he’s going to be the one locked in the dungeon. The interesting thing about this ghost was that he wanted Cole to open the door, but the door was already open. According to Cole’s statement, “They only see what they want to see,” this ghost could not see that the door was open. From people I’ve asked, it seems that this ghost was locked in the closet and that’s how he died. If I remember right, he says something about taking his master’s horses, so he must have been punished. It scared the hell out of me when Cole was in that small space with that scary sounding ghost. And it sent chills down my spiny little spine when the balloon pops and all you can hear silence. :::shiver::
Scary rating: 8 …. No, you don’t see this ghost, but that scene always makes me nervous.

Cole’s Grandma:

We never see her (although I wish we had!) but she is mentioned a few times in the movie. It doesn’t say how she died, but I’m guessing of old age or from an illness. She was the one who took Lynn’s bumblebee pendant which used to belong to her and moving it. I thought one of the freakiest parts in the movie was when Cole told his mom, “Grandma says hi.”
Scary rating: 1 She’s his grandmother and she loves him. We don't have to worry about her hurting Cole. 

The Spanish ghost:

This is a ghost that Cole doesn’t meet, but rather Vincent, the young man who was a former patient of Malcolm and shot him before shooting himself. After Cole confesses his secret to Malcolm, Malcolm listens to a taped session he had with Vincent. Cole reminds him of Vincent and he wants to see why this is so. During the session Malcolm is called out for a phone call and that’s when the weird noises start happening. He turns up the volume on his tape player all the way until all he can hear is static, Vincent whimpering and a voice shouting in Spanish.
Scary rating: 3 You don’t see this ghost, but he sounds kinda scary and the scene itself is enough to send chills down your spine.

Malcolm Crowe:
The only one you didn’t know was a ghost until the end of the movie (unless you caught on before that). He was fatally shot in the gut by one of his former patients, Vincent Grey. It's hard to tell if he knew he was dead or not, but if there was was any part of him that thought he was dead, he refused to believe it.
Scary rating: 1 Became one of Cole’s only confidants and helped Cole with his deep dark secret.  

Wow, that was certainly a fun trip down memory lane! It felt like I quantum leaped back into 2000 me!