The Sixth Sense

Stars:  Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette
Rated: PG-13
Plot:  Child psychologist Bruce Willis tries to help a troubled child who presents similar symptoms to another patient.
My Rating:4 Stars. SEE THIS MOVIE! It's one of the best of all time.

Review:
Well, I'm not sure where I should start here. This movie has two big things going for it: a great story, and fantastic acting. Let's take the story first. By the time I am writing this review, we've all heard the line "I see dead people," about ten million times. Well, that's the problem that little Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) is going through. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), a respected child psychologist tries to help Cole. It turns out, Cole's symptoms remind Crowe of a former patient, who was Crowe's biggest failure. Cole's problems make him a social outcast, and a great concern to his very caring mother (Tony Collette). Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Willis' relationship with his wife is also falling apart.

This movie is quite scary, but more in a Stephen King kind of way, and less in a "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" kind of way. The plot line is well thought out, not even the least of details are left out.

On the acting side, the three main characters all deserve high marks. Willis, who in the past has distinguished himself in such movies as "Twelve Monkees," does the same here. He works well with children, and is convincing in what I think was a fairly difficult role. Although her part isn't as large, Toni Collette is great as well. She plays a compassionate and loving mother, who is quite afraid for her son's mental wellbeing.

But the greatest acting in this movie was by Haley Joel Osment. You just can't say enough about his performance here. It was awe inspiring. He portrays genuine fear in a way that older more accomplished actors probably couldn't dream of doing. It's a gut-wrenching performance. Frankly, I don't understand how Mr. Osment didn't win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. That's not to say that Michael Kane wasn't impressive in "Cider House Rules," which he was, but Haley was far better. I fear that the Academy will not give an acting award to a 10 year old unless it had absolutely no choice. Actually, I'm not sure they really had a choice here. Osment was tremendous.

The combination of a fascinating plot, and tremendous acting makes this a movie that not only must be seen, it gets better when you see it for a second time. In fact, this is probably the first movie that I've ever seen twice in the theaters (and once more on tape, to boot). If you haven't seen this movie yet, run to the video store today. If you have seen it, you might want to give it a second look. It's worth it.

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