Remember your quirky and obnoxious imaginary friend who liked to throw spaghetti and cut people's hair while they slept? Well, in Hide and Seek, Emily has an imaginary friend and he's a psycho too. But in a bad way.
After finding his wife lifeless in bloody bathwater, David Callaway (Robert DeNiro) moves to a quiet town with his daughter, Emily (Dakota Fanning) to start life anew. Emily, having witnessed the death of her mother, becomes decidedly antisocial, preferring the sole company of her invisible friend, Charlie. At first,David assumes Charlie will help her get over her mother's death. After troubling incidents, David begins to worry that Charlie is real and dangerous.
Judging from audience members two-waying on their Nextels and the film's predictable plot, actually playing two hours of hide and seek would have been better than watching this movie. While Dakota Fanning is believable as a freaky, weird-ass kid , she was much cuter in Matilda. Famke Janssen appears as the helpful child psychiatrist, but the corny plot twists cannot salvage her mediocre performance, nor DeNiro's attempt. The film trudges on with lame dialogue and leaves questions like "what was with their sketchy neighbors?" unanswered. If you're looking for some imaginary friend action, forget Charlie. Make your own. Mine is Fred. We'll be at the bar.
