Premonition
Squandered potential.
Review by Sr. Guapo

If every day is a miracle, then so is every hour. And if you spend two hours watching Sandra Bullock in "Premonition," you may feel a little bit cheated by the absence of any miracles. Though it tries its hardest to be the sort of thought-inspiring movie that will appeal to those who like intellectual thrillers, "Premonition" disappointingly feels more like a romance with supernatural elements thrown in as an afterthought.

Bullock plays Linda Hanson, a soccer mom something like ten years into a marriage with the man of her dreams. As the opening credits roll, she wakes to a typical day of blissful drudgery. Her husband left town for a business trip, so she gets her daughters ready for school and listens to a message on her phone. It's her husband, calling to say that he meant what he told the girls the night before (you find out later in the movie what that was) and that he wants to talk with her. Not much later, the doorbell rings. Linda answers the door and finds the sheriff standing there, uncomfortable and sympathetic as he relays the bad news: her husband is dead.

Linda barely hears a word he says once the truth hits. When the sheriff leaves, she copes the best she can. Her mother comes for support and Linda breaks the news to the girls. They take it as well as can be expected. They're old enough to understand the concept of death, but not necessarily to grasp how much it will change their lives. Linda herself feels weak and her face is tear-streaked. She falls asleep on her couch that night. . . and wakes up in her bed the next morning.

The previous day's events seem to have been a nightmare. Her mother is nowhere in sight and most bizarrely, her husband is still alive. No one remembers anything about the previous day except Linda. She's relieved, until the next morning finds her waking again to her husband's death. What's happening?

The rest of the movie answers that question and somehow makes the truth boring. With so much potential set into motion, the writers could have gone any number of ways and produced a fascinating thriller. Instead, they squander the good things they have with a sappy, preachy wreck of a film that's so busy tying up loose ends (successfully but without inspiration) and spouting feel-good sentiments that it doesn't maintain tension.

Brief moments where the film deviates long enough to feed its audience the explosion you might remember from the trailer-or violent action and even a brief outburst of profanity that helped earn the PG-13 rating-are almost comical because they seem out of place. Bullock gives her character a vulnerability and appeal that will have you following her on the emotional rollercoaster, but this isn't the movie to watch if you're looking for the "housewife in peril" motif the trailers seemed to promise.

In fact, by the time the end rolls around I was disappointed in nearly every sense. While it's true that I was kept guessing most of the way through and even surprised that the writers didn't take the easy way out, this was one case where I wished they had. Bullock's a talented, likeable actress but the script here didn't really feel like it knew what it wanted to accomplish. As a result, "Premonition" is a good date movie or a weekend rental but nothing more. Look for your miracles elsewhere.

Final Score: 2/5