Talented cast should have hidden from predictable 'Hide and Seek'

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

HIDE AND SEEK (R) Two Stars (Fair) Veteran actor Robert De Niro and upcoming youngster Dakota Fanning co-star as father and daughter in this a run-of-the-mill psychological thriller about a father trying to deal with an emotionally disturbed daughter. Amy Irving, Famke Janssen and Elisabeth Shue co-star for director John Polson. Twentieth Century Fox, 100 minutes.

As written by Ari Schlossberg and directed by John Polson, "Hide and Seek" is a murky, slow-moving tale that's a Stephen King and Alfred Hitchcock wannabe, but not in a league with the better works from either of those fright masters.

As the film opens, Emily Callaway (Fanning) is a happy child, though she's starting to realize there is a strain between her father (De Niro) and her mother (Amy Irving), which quickly results in Mom's suicide.

So the father, a psychologist, self-prescribes for both a move from Manhattan to a rural area north of New York. That, of course, puts them in isolation in a big spooky house. (Just the thing to cure deep emotional shock!)

Alone, Emily invents an imaginary friend named Charlie. And that's when evil things start to happen. Is Charlie a ghost on the property? Is the obviously distraught neighbor to blame? Is Emily turning into a bad seed?

The film plays out slowly and sometimes painfully, with many slow, late-night shots down long hallways, toward closed doors, while the soundtrack pounds with cliched music or creaking floorboards or dripping water.

Once the mystery resolves itself, the movie makes more sense; but getting to the explanation is like putting up with lots of dental drilling to get a healthy tooth. Thank goodness the cast is so good; with lesser folks, you'd probably much rather hide than seek "Hide and Seek."

Rated R, strong violence, fright (involving a child).