Premonition
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Julian McMahon, Shyann McClure
Director: Mennan Yapo
Genre: Drama / Fantasy / Mystery / Thriller
Rated: Rated PG-13 for some violent content, disturbing images, thematic material and brief language.
Duration: 1hr 37mins
Plot: Depressed housewife who learns her husband was killed in a car accident the previous day awakens the next morning to find him alive. Then awakens the next day to a world in which he is still dead.

Sadly, I didn’t have any sort of visions warning me against watching Sandra Bullock’s attempt at a mind bending thriller. Premonition tries to be much, much more than it’s capable of handling. The story starts with Bullock as the starring, tired housewife who is visited by a police officer informing her of her husband’s death yesterday. Apparently it took them a day and a half to find her house. The next morning Bullock wakes up to find her husband alive and well, but it’s not the next day it’s the day before the accident instead. So what do you think happens the next time she wakes up? Why that’s right, it’s the future again and her husband is dead, again. The storyline continues to leap frog back and forth, past and future until you just can’t stand another bit of it.

A big mistake in the story is that we’re expected to care about this family, but we’re given little, very little, reason to do so. Other than a black and white intro that lasts just a few minutes we have no insight to Bullock’s marriage before the death of her husband. Even worse is that as the story goes along Bullock seems to care even less about her husband and his pending demise. The whole “back and forth” seems to be more of a hassle than an opportunity to save him. Perhaps the most annoying aspect of the movie is how everything, and I mean every little thing is hyped up so damn much that it’s unbearable. Dramatic, pounding music gets overused as though it’s regular ol’ background noise. When Bullock smears her hand with a dead bird we’re bombarded with an overly dramatic score that persists until she has washed away the last bit of bird goo. There’s no reason though, no important aspect to the movie, just an opportunity to pretend as though this is a crucial development. Most of the movie continues in that theme, trying to make more of itself than it has to offer.

The casting result has entirely let the film down. While Bullock tries her best to carry this movie the disjointed side characters disrupt the flow as much as they can. Her best friend is a much younger, single woman which makes it hard to believe they would have much in common. I’m thinking they just decided they needed one minority in the movie and she was available. Then there’s the doctor, everyone’s favorite rodent toting mobster from The Big Lebowski, Peter Stormare. As much as I enjoy this guy I’ve seen him in way too many Russian accented tough guy roles to possibly believe him as a shrink. Well that and he just doesn’t do a very good job w/ the character. Then there’s a very oddly chosen scene where Bullock seeks out a priest for answers. We’re of course treated to the ol’ “it’s been a long time since you’ve been here” bit for Bullock’s character returning to church. Luckily, or oddly, the priest has an old book detailing misfortunes of historical persons with premonitions of their own. This whole scene would have worked much better had she visited an old friend that ran a bookstore and was up on his paranormal occurences. I can’t really think of one well casted member of this movie. Perhaps the problem wasn’t them as much as it was the movie.

In no way would I recommend this movie to anyone, not even as a prank. I found myself wandering around the room and playing with the dogs as the movie churned away. At 97 minutes it was painfully long with the only reward being a hilariously transparent turn of events for the ending. Well that and the stupid “twist” at the end being (spoiler alert! look away) she’s pregnant. So what? She already has two kids with her now dead husband. If you want pregnancy to be a big deal for the situation then you have to make them childless despite repeated attempts, which could even provide a point of friction between them, partially explaining the distance between them. Geez, I could write a better version of this script with a crayon and a napkin.

Whatever you do, do not watch this movie. Bad, bad, bad Sandra. Shame on you.

Rating: 0.5/5 stars
High Point: only 97 minutes
Low Point: 96 mins too long

Premonition - Movie Trailer:

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