David Callaway (Robert De Niro) is having a tough time dealing with the apparent suicide of his wife (Amy Irving). His young daughter Emily (Dakota Fanning) also has taken her mother’s death very hard retreating into her own little world. As a psychologist David decides the only way to help Emily is to move from the big city to a house in the country. Sure that kind of thing usually works like a charm. Emily does perk up a bit when she finds a new “friend ” Charlie who likes to have fun and play hide and seek with her. Of course we can’t actually see this new friend but that’s beside the point. The imaginary Charlie is still a powerful force in Emily’s life instructing her not to talk about him much and hating pretty much everyone else in her life including her dad. In short order bad things start happening–yes the family pet gets whacked–which Emily blames on Charlie. This leaves David wondering how his little girl could have turned so psychotic. But wait. Maybe Charlie isn’t imaginary after all but actually a flesh-and-blood malevolent presence. Oh god do you think so?
Why you may ask would an acting icon like Robert De Niro star of such classic movies as Raging Bull and Goodfellas choose such a cheesy film as Hide and Seek? Very good question. Maybe he was drawn into the project based on the premise like the rest of us without realizing how derivative the story would get as things progressed. Of course De Niro plays the confused father–dealing with what could possibly be a demonic child–with a fair amount of finesse. But he’s a pro that’s what he does. Fanning (I Am Sam) too does the best she can as the sunken-eyed pasty-faced Emily. She sulks around rarely smiles and draws scary pictures of people dying horrible deaths which has now become a prerequisite for any child in a scary movie. In the supporting roles Elisabeth Shue Famke Janssen and Dylan Baker are all pretty much wasted. Shue who hasn’t acted in anything major since 2000’s Hollow Man makes a brief appearance as a potential paramour for David. Janssen (X-Men) playing David’s colleague and Emily’s confidante thinks living in isolation is a bad idea (and she’s right!). Veteran character actor Baker (Kinsey) takes on the predictable role of the hapless town sheriff who never quite gets he’s about to be in a world of hurt.
It is always disappointing when the promise of something potentially creepy turns out to possess the same old tired plot points and scare tactics seen countless times before. Director John Polson–best known for helming Swimfan another predictable stalker-gone-mad thriller–and novice screenwriter Ari Schlossberg don’t have the necessary skills to take Hide and Seek above and beyond its conventional trappings. To its small credit the film does build a bit of tension in the beginning as David and Emily skirt around each other trying to grasp onto some kind of normalcy. Then when Emily introduces Charlie you continue to hold out hope that somehow the filmmakers will channel some of M. Night Shyamalan‘s aura and start really scaring the bejesus out of you. But alas it isn’t meant to be. Instead you’re sitting there pretty much guessing every move the film is going to make before it happens. When the twist finally comes around–you knew there was a twist right?–it doesn’t really surprise you whether you’ve guess it or not.
