Reviews

Ghost Whisperer is not an ambitious undertaking. It is simple light entertainment and taken that way is a harmless and entertaining way to spend an hour.

Jennifer Love Hewitt creates a sympathetic character and has that niceness which is ideal for the part. She plays what could be a kitch role with a nice balance.

What I find sad is that like other shows where the star is either the producer or has an undue influence on the production values, the star's sensibilities and ego needs can override the dramatic values.

In this instance, it is clear that Ms. Hewitt is overly conscious of her height and curves and too much is done to work around this. She's small, surprisingly curvy and lovely (yes, Ms. Hewitt, if you read this, you could work sexy into it but need to beef up the scripts a bit). Work with that. Forget the extreme high heels craftily hidden by bell bottom jeans and weird dresses that make her look pregnant.

Whether this show has the oomph to have a longish run is doubtful. I suspect it is just a little too thin. Perhaps is the husband's part could be fleshed out and some non-ghostly conflict introduced it may improve.

The Medium scriptwriters have given their stars conflict which drives the plot nicely and the husband is more than just an accessory.

If anyone associated with this show reads this stuff, give Ms. Hewitt the opportunity to stretch her acting skills a bit with relevant conflict. She's the star, she doesn't have to be in every second of every scene. Give the other characters some meaning.

As an alternative to CSI Sault City or wherever they are basing the 649th franchise or any of the murkily lit Brukheimer clones this is at least entertaining and doesn't take itself seriously.

Shatner is... well... Shatner? How else can you describe such an idiosyncratic actor. But he draws an interesting character portrait. I think we all become charactures of our younger selves as we age and Shatner is surely portraying this well.

Spader is awesome. He is one of those actors who seemed so natural when I first saw him many years ago I thought he was a real person brought in to play himself. Now that is a compliment.

Monica Potter is lovely eye candy but I have seen her act and would like her to get some bits which have a bit more meat on them.

As often happens some of the minor characters lack depth and both the writers and the actors themselves need to give them nuance and vitality. Sadly with actors the calibre of Shatner and Spader that makes is it very hard for less experienced and perhaps less talented actors to make their mark.

This is a fine, well-drawn film overall and I recommend it. However it falls short of a masterpiece and the areas of supporting cast and editing appear to be the main problem.

The era and its style was evoked very well but despite having the dates appear on the screen I sometimes got confused about just where the story was. Some special effects were really excellent and some were just a bit pedestrian. For example, the spy plane crash sequence just didn't ring true but I can't say why.

Without question the main leads: DiCaprio and Blanchett, were brilliantly accurate in evoking the personalities and feeling of the very famous characters they portray. Blanchett is perhaps the greatest film actress on the screen today and in time will be spoken of with the same awe and reverence as Streep and Hepburn herself. I have to be honest and admit that I was pleasantly surprised by DiCaprio's portrayal. He could easily have damaged my immersion in the story with an off-key effort but it was spot-on and carefully underplayed Hughes' known peculiarities. These two actors made the movie a success.

Most of the supporting cast were well selected and did a fine job with only a couple of minor exceptions.

Alan Alda is as always a complete delight. We have all seen low-life politicians like Sen. Brewster and he captured the person well. Why can't we find a good role for Alda as the main star of a movie?

Ian Holm was competent in his usual highly underplayed style. I don't know if the character he portrays ever existed or if it is a composite but it seems Holm struggled to give flesh to a character which was very thinly written.

Beckinsale is less accurate in her portrayal of Ava Gardner and it felt like she 'phoned the role in' rather than inhabiting the character as the two main leads managed to achieve. I keep feeling that there is a good actress under the pretty facade and I would love to see here in a role which gives here an opportunity to act and not just be pretty.

Gwen Stefani. Why bother? She didn't look like Harlow, she didn't sound like Harlow. Mercifully her scenes were brief. Perhaps an exercise in good editing taste by Scorcese? Overall, the editing seems to be self-indulgent and the movie would benefit from a more objective cut. There are some excellent actors who would have done the roles of Gardner and Harlow better but these were mild deficiencies.