Deborah Woehr

Robert DeNiro is one of my favorite actors. I loved his performance in Midnight Run as well as that movie (forget the title) where he and Sean Penn are escaped convicts who pretend to be priests so they can hide out from the police. When I saw the previews of Hide and Seek in the movie theater, my curiosity was piqued. In all respects, this appeared to be a ghost story, due to the large house in the woods and the creepy reference to an “imaginary friend” named Charlie.

The movie begins with Alison Callaway (Amy Irving), pushing her daughter, Emily (Dakota Fanning), on one of those twirly kiddie rides in their local park. Mother and daughter are laughing and smiling. David Callaway (Robert DeNiro) enters the scene, smiling at his wife and daughter. They look like the picture-perfect family.

By the end of the next scene, it’s clear that they are not the perfect family. Emily stands in the doorway of the bathroom, watching her father cry as he holds his wife’s lifeless body, an apparent suicide. David, a psychologist, takes his daughter to upstate New York so they can heal from their grief.

Dakota Fanning did a superb job of playing a disturbed child. As the movie progressed, I became convinced that she was causing the mutilations to her dolls and re-enacting the scene of her mother’s death to get back at her father, using an imaginary friend named “Charlie” as a scapegoat. I felt sorry for both characters.

Then the movie made a hairpin turn. I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to spoil the plot. However, I will say that it was the most emotionally charged suspense thriller I’ve ever seen, mainly because a child was involved.

The reason I give this movie 4.5 stars is because of Robert DeNiro’s weak performance, especially at the end. For one thing, he was too old. The director should have casted someone ten years younger to play this part.

[rating: 4.5/5]