The Forgotten
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: September 24, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
21
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It struck me as the most exciting and original Hollywood thriller, occult or otherwise, since "The Sixth Sense." Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Turns out to be a grade-A B-movie that grounds its thrills in particulars of time, place, and character, so that when the time comes to make the leap into the wholly preposterous, we do so willingly. This is a movie that earns our trust -- and then happily abuses it. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
This is a movie that earns its suspense and validates its emotions, especially its examination of the bond between mother and child. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyJon Strickland
Midway through, the plot pulls itself out of its doldrums with a sudden, heart-twisting turn. Ruben still knows how to cut a sequence for maximum jolt, and, ultimately, he and DiPego manage to summon up some of the B-movie paranoia that fueled "The Stepfather," turning in a pleasantly nonsensical roller-coaster ride. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneSid Smith
The stylish and imaginative imagery in director Joseph Ruben's film, not to mention the parapsychological twists and mysteries, evoke the work of director M. Night Shyamalan. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Begins as a perfectly reasonable thriller and ends up rather an inane one. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Outlandish but gripping paranoid thriller. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A thriller of carefully cultivated murk. It's enigmatic in the worst sense, in that every explanation for what's going on holds less water than the last. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
Ultimately only Moore, with her eyes always half-damp and voice half-cracked and body language half-mad, keeps the movie on the ground, when it too often threatens to fly into the thin air, where the audience would laugh it off the screen. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Sustains a few icy chills, but a mix of genres muddles the story. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This could easily go down as the year's best example of solid acting in a wretched motion picture. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
By the self-contradictory and ludicrous end, I had the mixed satisfaction of being proved right in my disappointment. (Di Pego wrote the equally silly "Instinct" and "Angel Eyes," so I can't say I was surprised.) Read full review
50
Miami HeraldPeter Debruge
The ending of The Forgotten leaves you feeling the same way, wondering just how much -- if anything -- of what came before actually happened. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian Lowry
A spare, streamlined thriller for the conspiracy-minded, Area 51 crowd, The Forgotten perhaps wisely leaves more questions than it answers and for the most part manages to maintain its suspense. Read full review
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
It's really weird. Has its share of visceral surprises. Slightly predictable and dumb when all is said and done. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Director Joseph Ruben's best efforts can't keep Gerald Di Pego's puzzle-picture script from toppling into absurdity as it lurches from melodrama to psychological thriller with supernatural overtones to full-blown exercise in X-Files-style nuttiness. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The Forgotten is not a good movie, but at least it supplies a credible victim (Moore). Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
There is nothing worse than a thriller that doesn't play fair... The Forgotten is just a big, fat, obvious cheater. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
The picture never comes out from under the weight of its dreariness, despite fine acting, foot chases and conspiracy theories galore. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
The movie works reasonably well at this for its first half, but by then we've pretty much figured everything out. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
An uneasy mix between "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and the "The X-Files," and one not nearly as smart as either. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMark Holcomb
The resolution is as surprise-free as it is improbably sunny. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Such unabashed ludicrousness can be fun, in a brainless sort of way, especially when it's coupled with lots of sudden defibrillator jolts underscored by crashing cymbals. If there's one thing The Forgotten has, it's plenty of cardiac moments. Read full review
40
NewsweekDavid Ansen
It's poppycock, but well directed: Ruben delivers two or three guaranteed jolts, which almost make up for the copout of an ending. Read full review
40
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
There isn't much here any semi-regular viewer of "The X-Files" hasn't already seen a dozen times before. Read full review
40
EmpireWill Lawrence
A premise neutered by daft supernatural shenanigans, which raise as many questions as they answer. Read full review
38
USA TodayMike Clark
All this dreary movie has is a terrible whodunit payoff. Read full review
38
New York PostMegan Lehmann
The worst crime perpetrated in the Swiss-cheese screenplay by Gerald Di Pego ("Angel Eyes") is the cynical use of a mother's love for her child as a plot device for an intelligence-insulting sci-fi dud. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The last act, when the movie falls apart like a cheap toy, is both a deus ex machina and an anticlimax. Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
In the preposterous thriller The Forgotten, a pseudospiritual, mumbo-jumbo, science-fiction inflected mess, the director Joseph Ruben does not just fail to tap into Ms. Moore's talent; he barely gets her attention. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
My favorite line from the movie: "The god---- truth won't fit in your brain." How's that for cheap gimmicks for getting out of having to make a movie make sense? Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Though it soon devolves into a laughable mess, The Forgotten at least spends its first 10 minutes or so raising provocative questions. Read full review
25
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Tedious and incoherent thriller. Read full review
10
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
It's "The Sixth Sense" as nonsense, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" without the sunshine. Or the mind.
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