Ham-fisted mess

How did such good actors get roped into such a ham-fisted script and ridiculous story? Immediately I didn't like the film, as when we first see Silver (de Niro) who walks outside of a plane on a sunny day and TAKES OFF HIS GLASSES so we can see he's blind, and then just puts them on again. Blind people wear glasses BECAUSE it's too bright out. But Silver took his glasses off because the director wanted US to know he's blind, get it? That's ham-fisted. And if he's really NOT blind, then why does he wear those "blind" contact lenses around his entourage, who KNOW he's a con man? Stupid.


Then we have Cillian Murphy, a physicist, sticking a pen through his lip, and that goes unexplained.
Later, in college, Sigourney is forced to speak a terrible script as a teacher of paranormal-debunking, as if she has all the answers, and engages her physisict assistant to demonstrate all the parlor tricks of the trade to the students, who are all bad actors with bad lines; it sounds like a commercial. Later in the hallway, Sigourney embarrasses the idiot little researcher by telling him the subjects can see his cards with the reflection from his glasses. Really? Even dumb poker players know this, but a serious paranormal researcher does not? Come on, how stupid does this film think we are? Cillian can substitute teach for Sigourney no problem...even though the course is NOT physics. Apparently, colleges are now teaching entire classes on debunking paranormal events, and physics assistants can "stand in" no problem. Great school; such high academic standards. If you teach a Psych class and have a biologist working for you, he can teach when you're out--that happens all the time in colleges!
This is a lot of suspension of disbelief.


Next, Sigourney and Cillian are out scoping the crowd outside of a hoaxster's show, all incognito and on a shoestring...and then they come inside and have the entire police force working for them, it seems??? What? Of course, they come into the show after it's already started (great planning), but bust the con artists, and apparently it's a felony, because the main guy gets sent to prison and does hard time! And what an unconvincing hack of a psychic he was, too! Yet they say from the booth he's a real pro--really? He shouts all this disgusting violent, angry stuff and says "I DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD! I BELIEVE IN ME!!" and that's going to win audiences? And then he commands people to come "in the name of God"? Sigourney jokes about this ("hallelujah"),but his approach was too stupid and inept to be really convincing. He shouts out the complete name and addresses, just like he's being read to. No subtlety at all. So much ridiculousness. And what about this stupid script! "Are you questioning my power??" DeNiro barks. The director has Cillian and DeNiro yell, yet they both seem to have hoarse throats. And what's with all this yelling and anger, anyway? The director seems to confuse psychics with Benny Hinn-type preachers, who are all over-the-top hucksters.
De Niro's speech was quite similar to the hack they busted, so disappointing.
I expected him to be more suave. Then Weaver admonishes Cillian not to pursue Silver, and I thought she was going to give him a hard lesson on why he's "not worth your time". Instead she reveals she's terrified of the man, and then she drops dead within 24 hours for no reason! Oh yes, we are to assume Silver
somehow "killed her" psychically. But of course, once we find out later he's a hoax, that leaves only Cillian, or...just a heart condition. Yawn.

All the while this movie plays, the CNN-type news is broadcasting how big and famous this Silver guy is, overplaying the importance of this subculture. Silver couldn't SEE the spoon the black interviewer woman held up, but COULD tell her it was sticking out of her pocket? How did he figure that out unless he could SEE it? Am I stupid?

Then the "experiment" happens, and even though de Niro is told to remove his watch, and it's scanned, he's allowed to put the stupid thing back on in the booth, and he magically has an "accomplice" on the inside with a synchronized watch that helps them beat one of the tests. Of course, nothing is said about the "thoutography" test, which I found most intriguing, as to how realistic images were projected by de Niro onto cameras that were "focused to infinity". The director ignores THAT test! And the spoon test and water tests were not "definitive". And when the nerd kid and the chick were
slowing down the video, and she says "zoom in on the watches", the nerd gets sarcastic and says it's not possible with this video. But then in the VERY NEXT SCENE we can see the stupid watches' second hands ticking in perfect synchronicity! What?? The film director thinks we're stupid, folks! I was expecting more "Columbo" about cracking this fraud, but instead the scene jumps to the ridiculous finale:

Cillian goes to Silver's show...and there's this disgusting bathroom brawl--what was the point of that?? At first, Cillian seemed to be in the john with other skeptics, who referred to de Niro as an actor. They leave, and this guy comes in and just starts to beat the crap out of him, without worrying about any other patrons. Cillian must weigh 140 soaking wet, and the man pummels his face into pulp, probably killing him. And what point? Cillian was just sitting in the audience...he wasn't in some room with his electrical box. At this point, I began to think perhaps the director's "hot-blooded" instincts, of preacherly rage and violence is just bleeding into this movie, destroying an otherwise interesting concept of debunking paranormal con men.
Finally, after the bloody and disgusting bathroom fight, Cillian is just a bit bloody and has a swollen eye, and challenges de Niro's "power" and makes the heavens shake. He later TOSSES A COIN AND DENIRO CATCHES IT!! An experienced con man is going to catch a coin in front of a huge audience, exposing himself?
Did the writer spend more than 1 second thinking about this? Ham-fisted all the way. Cillian then walks out into the rain like forever (without a gauntlet of umbrella'd reporters this time), with oh-so-boring revelatory speechifying, realizes he's a psychic himself (I was surprised at this "twist" but unmoved at the same time) and romantically meets his grad student squeeze, and they go to the hospital, not to get medical attention for his serious concussive injuries, but to pull the cord on Sigourney's son, and he "writes" a dead
Sigourney, even though she went to her death believing nothing lay after life, as a final insult. Unbelievably insultingly stupid movie which makes me want to just spend more nights reading those dusty books I have laying around the house!