Genres

Visitors Review

TChiu 2013-05-25 02:15:30

Ludicrous Camp!!!

One of the funniest films from this year! High camp; too bad the direction's sodull that after an hour even the funny bits get drowned out by the tedium.This is the kind of movie that tries to build suspense by having everycharacter act as stupid and inattentive to the obvious aspossible.Jessica Lange does a lot of eye-rolliing, neck-straining and incessantsmoking as the wealthy gargoyle mother who has it in for innocent dumbbelldaughter in law Gwyneth Paltrow. Jonathan Schaech plays a piece of wood whooccasionally stumbles into a scene with other characters. You know Lange'ssupposed to be evil because she smokes, drinks and has an inexplicableSouthern accent (in upstate New York?). The film sports two endings (don'tworry, no spoilers here!!!), the first of which is guffaw-inducing justbecause it's medically not possible, and a final showdown which isincredibly dull and comes out of nowhere. Lots of bad dialogue andfar-fetched plot "developments" carry the viewer to the bitter end.Allegedly this film was held up for massive re-shoots and edits for a wholeyear. One hopes for a "director's cut" just so we can see what could havebeen even worse than this hilarious nonsense. Recommended!!!

gordon-12 2013-05-24 19:10:18

A waste of talent

With a star cast of Jessica Lange and upcomer Gwyneth Paltrow, how can amovie like this go so wrong?? Was Jessica having thoughts of a third Oscarby playing a psychic mother? It was very difficult to watch her play thisrole. To make it worse, the viewer has to toil 85 minutes to find a veryunsatisfying ending.

mrlocco 2013-05-22 17:05:42

Not even bad enough to be good

An absolutely awful movie I watched only because of Gwyneth Paltrow whoI had previously admired greatly. Not so much now. Shame on her forbeing party to this load of rubbish. It started off quite promisingly,well actually the wheels didn't start coming off until burglary/attackon Paltrow when it was blatantly and painfully obvious that the motherhad arranged this. No explanation of the reason for this. Things wentrapidly downhill from there, yes the scenery was attractive if you likethat sort of thing but credit for that is due to mother nature not thecinematographer. I think the second worst aspect, after the terriblestory line, was Lange's acting.Incidentally, Oxytocin is rendered useless in the digestive system andis only effective if absorbed through the mucous membranes or givenintravenously, and even then has a half life of 3 minutes I believe, soit would be totally useless taken in food. Also if my mother-in-law hadtreated me like that when I was in labour and then tried to kill mewith a lethal injection I would not have stayed in the house even for adramatic denouement the next morning.Then the son, after being led around by the nose by the evil motherdoes a complete about face in the space of a few minutes on thestrength of his wifes unsubstantiated accusations.A rubbish movie best avoided.

Lawrence 2013-05-22 11:21:19

Not that bad : 6.5/10

I did have a good time watching"Hush" and the two women are just excellent because you feel like goingintotheir lives to kick Martha's a** and help Helen out. Jackson keeps a lowprofile up to the end where he delivers what we all expect him to. So, Iwish you a good moment watching this movie which shows great outdoors,beautiful countryside in winter times an nice horses. Enjoy!

vchimpanzee 2013-05-20 21:56:38

Creepy but good quality

Jackson Baring takes his girlfriend Helen to his family's horse farmKilronin. Jackson's mother Martha has been running the place but wouldlike her son to take over. Jackson and Helen are living together in NewYork City and are reluctant to leave that life. But Helen somehow getspregnant, even though she was using birth control, and the two getmarried and eventually do take over the farm.Jackson blames himself for his father's death when he was 7. Marthaknows the truth but won't tell him, and she seems to have an unnaturalrelationship with her son. It's almost as if she sees his father andwants to be with him in that way. And she sees the baby as a means ofcontinuing the legacy, but not a child to be loved, at least not in theway most people would. Her treatment of Helen is strange, as if Helenis only useful until the baby is born, and then she will be in the way.The ending is exciting and sort of creepy at the same time.Jessica Lange does a fine job here as Jackson's overly controlling anddemented mother. However, Nina Foch gives the standout performance asJackson's grandmother, who is kept in a fancy nursing home because onlyshe knows the truth about how her son died.I think all the leading actors did a good job here. I usually can'tstand Debi Mazar, who was a co-worker to Helen and possibly her boss,but I would like to have seen more of her here. But if Helen had tomove out of New York, I guess keeping her job was out of the question.I suppose my favorite scene was the one where Helen gets out of bednaked and meets her mother-in-law for the first time. That one wasedited for TV in such a way it seemed kind of jerky and I didn't get tosee much, but a lot depends on how one sees this movie.It's not typical of what I like in a movie, but still entertaining.

tazmania76_99 2013-05-20 11:51:13

What is good about this film.

Though this movie was somewhat slow and predictable it brings out theworst side of Jessica Lange. She had an outstanding performance as theevil Mother-In-Law to Gweneth Paltrow. I have never seen her in a roleas evil as this one. I believe that Gweneth showed the strength andheart of her character. She lost both her parents, was mugged in herown home and then stands up to her Mother-In-Law to prove to herhusband what an evil person his mother is. Way to go!!! Personally Iliked this movie. What the movie doesn't bring out right away is thelengths that "Martha" will go to take the baby and keep her son on thefarm. This movie is one of the best suspense movies that I've seen in awhile.

robbids 2013-05-17 01:50:28

Disappointing

This film is quite disappointing, especially considering the big names inits cast.Paltrow is good as always, and Lange is convincing too. But the weakest partis the plot. It lacks any coherence and cannot really convince, even if youwatch the film without too much attention (like I did).**Warning: major SPOILERS ahead!**The end is the worst: Jackson got very close to his mother - then onemorning Helen tells him she tried to kill her, and he immediately believesher, changes his mind and decides to leave. Even worse: having found outthat the woman is a deranged murderer who already killed her husband, theyjust leave her there without doing anything about it (what about calling thepolice!?), and go on to leave happily ever after. I give it 4 out of 10.

Meggie-3 2013-05-16 09:24:05

A mother-in-law no one would want to have

I loved this movie. Jessica Lange is very convincing as thecontrolling , vindictive mother-in law to Gwenyth Paltrow'sseemingly unsuspecting Helen. Jonathon Scheatch (what a hunk) isthe believable, niave son, does a fantastic job as well. NinaFoch is awesome, where did they get her? Overall, a greatsuspense-thriller

Edgar L. Davis 2013-05-13 22:46:21

A Creative U-turn for two Oscar winners(spoiler within)

In this movie there is a scene in the bathroom where Ms. Lange'scharacter,the possessive mother-in-law sponges down her pouty daughter-in-law's(Ms.Paltrow) back as she languishes in a tub filled suds. This ismovie-of-the-week material for two academy award winning actresses. But itis a testimony to why these two beauties are stars. Even when appearing ininferior material they are captivating to watch.

Adrian Thacker 2013-05-13 04:01:15

i know why they called it HUSH....

OK, the reason they called this movie "Hush", is so that you would bequietin the theater while everyone was sleeping. What a dull film. It draggedonfor the first hour, until Gwyneth was "ready" to have her baby, then youthink the excitement might set in. yippee-ki-yi-yay. When the mostinvigorating thing in a thriller movie is a bitch-slap, you knowsomething'swrong. Attractive leads do not mean a good movie... 2/10

gridoon 2013-05-13 06:11:19

No "Rosemary's Baby", but not bad.

Call her campy if you want to, but the fact remains that Jessica Lange,evenin a bad day, still easily out-acts the ever-smug Paltrow and the lifelessSchaech; those two bring almost no personality to their roles, and theiraffair seems to be having nothing going for it besides sex. As for thefilmitself, it is rather slack for a thriller, with poor continuity and anawkward ending; certainly the fact that filmed scenes weren't included inthe final cut didn't help matters at all. But it is smoothly directed andnot quite as bad as its reputation suggests. (**1/2)

Dee-26 2013-05-12 18:09:45

Good,but...

I thought it was a pretty good suspense film. I also thought Jessica andGwenyth did a good job. My only complaint is that they gave away who thekiller was too early in the movie.

DeeDeex10 2013-05-09 16:39:54

Great suspense thriller/drama!

I thought this was a great suspense thriller. Both Gweneth Paltrow andJessica Lange were fantastic. As a horse owner, I tend to nit-pickinaccurate "goofs" pertaining to the use of horses, as their usuallyis, but in this one, I didn't notice any. I loved the interaction with the Grandmother and one had to wonderthroughout the film how the grandmother was going to portray a role inthe outcome. As a woman, a Mother, a wife and who had a domineering Mother-in-law, Ikept rooting for Paltrow's character to smack Lang's character and dowhat needed to be done, not to mention what I would have wanted to dowhile feeling I had to suck up to my own M.I.L. to keep a marriageintact.

shawn_m_roeder 2013-05-09 07:52:36

Classic Hitchcockian Style Thriller

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie the first time I saw it ten years ago.The film reminded me of some of my favorite Hitchcock flicks, namelyShadow of a Doubt and Notorious. The story builds slowly and generatesjust enough paranoia of impending danger to keep the audienceinterested. By the time everything comes together, the audience has anemotional investment in the main character and experiences genuineanxiety at her ordeal. This is so refreshingly different from themovies that slice and dice cardboard characters in an attempt togenerate suspense.After seeing how poorly people have reacted to this film, I revisitedit to see if my memory served me correctly. My assessment remains thesame. Jessica Lange gives a stellar performance as the homicidalcontrol freak. Gwyneth Paltrow is easy to empathize with as theparanoid daughter-in-law. Nina Foch is hysterical as the cheerful oldlady who knows all the family secrets. I have met each of thesecharacters in the real world. The only reason I would hesitate to callthis a masterpiece is because there is no Hitchcock cameo. Still, thisis a worthy imitation of the master's work.

Quentin 2013-05-08 04:56:13

Ghastly title, okay movie

I'm not sure quite why they gave this little sleeper of a movie the titlethey did, except perhaps it was a throw-back to Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte.The movie kinda follows in the earlier movie's footsteps, except it's moremodern, less melodramatic and probably less successful as a portrait of aderenaged mother/mother-in-law who is determined to hang on to everythingand everyone - with the single exception of daughter-in-law Gwyneth. Langedoes a pretty fair job of acting the scheming mom, and Gwyneth (a favoriteof mine to look at) does an okay job with the role she's given. The plotdoes stretch a bit thin occasionally and the setting on a horse ranch hardlyprovides much drama, but overall it seems to work reasonably well for arainy afternoon, and I think it's generally been given a bit of a "bum rap".I'd say it's worth about six to 6.5 out of 10 for one or two original ideas.

sddavis63 2013-05-07 10:30:28

Jessica Lange Makes It Worth Watching, But She Can't Make It Good

Even way back in 1998, the question would have been a valid one: doesthe world really need yet another of the "mother in law hates the newdaughter in law for taking her son away from her so she sets out todestroy her" movies? Really - hasn't this been done to death? Well, in1998 somebody decided that, indeed, another one was needed - and theend result was this rather unoriginal story that doesn't do anythingthat other movies of this type haven't already done.Frankly, the only thing that saved this was the performance of JessicaLange as Martha Baring, the obsessively jealous and controlling motherin law. Lange, I thought, did a good job with her character. At first,Martha seems almost normal and welcoming of her new daughter in lawHelen (Gwyneth Paltrow). But she gradually becomes more and moremenacing and by the end borders on the insane, and that was allbrilliantly pulled off by Lange, who made an otherwise bland movieworth watching.Unfortunately, one superb performance can't save an otherwise weakmovie. (4/10)

shuz 2013-05-06 10:05:15

bad movie

I just rented this last weekend and it is a bomb. I am so surprised to seeJessica Lange in something like this. This was totally predictable, butnothing really ever happens. The end is pretty evil, but why didn't theybuild up to it? Gwyneth Paltrow was so bland, and Jonathan Schaech, whosmoldered in "The Doom Generation", was even duller(keep in mind, they havevery little to work with). Would you believe a baby is born, yet no onebothers to call a doctor? HELLO, plot hole. Go weed the garden, watch adog grooming contest, ANYTHING but suffer through thisone.

vanessa2 2013-05-05 19:33:14

Predictable, but still interesting

This movie was without a doubt, very predictable. There have been a hundredother movies made with basically a similar plotline. But I still enjoyedit, simply because I enjoy this type of movie. Jessica Lange gave a greatperformance as the deranged mother in law. It's fun to watch, even thoughyou know how it's probably going to turn out in the end. I think everyoneshould at least give this movie a chance. It's worth watching.

Landona 2013-05-05 10:20:44

Better than all these guys are saying!

True, the ending was lacking in continuity, and left one with a sense ofdisappointment, but my husband and I rather enjoyed this movie.Contrary toother comments below, Jessica Lange and Johnathon Schaech did fine jobs!Lange was very convincing as the mother-in-law from hell. There were timeswhen it seemed like scenes had been cut because things didn't make sense,but it wasn't too hard to ignore that and fill in the blanks ourselves.Nothing great, but amusing to watch.

whpratt1 2013-05-05 03:31:28

Paltrow & Lang Were Excellent

Greatly enjoyed this film and the wonderful photography of New YorkCity and beautiful scenery in various Historical Towns in Virginia,namely: Charlottesville, Culpeper and Orange, Virginia. JessicaLang,(Martha Baring),"Big Fish", '03 played the very over poweringmother-in-law to Gwyneth Paltrow,(Helen Baring),"A Perfect Murder",'98,who is very much in love with her husband and there are many sceneswhere they are making love most of the time. Jessica Lang is veryprotective of her son and even goes through their luggage looking atHelens method of Birth Control. Nina Foch,(Alice Baring),"A Song toRemember",'45, a great veteran actress, gives very importantinformation to Helen Baring concerning the Baring Family past secrets.If you look close, you will see Hal Holbrook,(Dr. FranklinHill),"Purpose",'02, giving advice to Martha Baring concerningprescriptions for horses. If you love Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Lang,this film will greatly entertain you from beginning to end.