The Gift

Sam Raimi, director of the cultish "Evil Dead" trilogy, mellows his kinetic visual style considerably with the new psychological thriller "The Gift."\nCate Blanchett does mesmerizing work as a clairvoyant named Annie Wilson. Recently widowed and responsible for her three young sons, Annie turns to soothsaying to provide for her fragmented family. Granted, this "hokum" is widely frowned upon in the tiny, backwater town of Brixton, Ga., but that doesn't deter the occasional loose screw from patronizing her services. Annie's clients include a moronic skank named Valerie Barksdale (Oscar-winner Hilary Swank) and Buddy Cole (Giovanni Ribisi), an intense, mentally handicapped mechanic.\nDespite the trepidation many locals harbor for Annie, her abilities are soon put to the test in an unresolved police matter. Jessica King ("Dawson's Creek" hottie Katie Holmes), a trampy little princess with a predilection toward banging married men, turns up missing. The town is brimming with suspects including the misunderstood Buddy, Valerie's sadistic redneck husband, Donnie (Keanu Reeves) and Jessica's own fiancé Wayne Collins (Greg Kinnear), the respectable principal of Annie's sons' elementary school. It's Annie's job to implement her considerable telepathic skills to finger the sole perpetrator and unearth the other secrets surrounding Jessica's disappearance.\nThe ensemble cast featured within "The Gift" is extremely competent. Blanchett headlines in grand fashion, churning out what is, at least in my opinion, the best performance by an actress in any film from this past year. Aside from Blanchett's tour-de-force, the film belongs to Reeves and Holmes' ample breasts. That's right, kiddies, Keanu can muster theatrical range beyond the prototypical "Dude" and "Whoa" quips he's become infamous for, and the WB teenybopper bares all then proceeds to bite it. Kinnear, Ribisi and Swank also register quite well in their respective roles. \n"The Gift" is a taut, sexy thriller that only stumbles through a few moments of downtrodden pacing and semi-annoying melodramatic piffle. Despite these minor complaints, the film is a well-crafted gothic mystery that should entertain even the most discerning of film goers.