Hush

Starring: Jessica Lange, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jonathon Schaech, Nina Foch, Debi Mazar, Hal Holbrook, Richard Lineback
Directed by: Jonathan Darby
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Thriller
1998

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) is in love with her boyfriend (Jonathon Schaech), but his meddling mother (Jessica Lange) becomes worried that she's losing her son and will stop at nothing to preserve their relationship.

Review:

Tim: I'm all for a good family thriller, and who's better to target than mothers-in-law? But, while the premise for Hush might make sense, the execution is lacking. As the film progresses, the story becomes increasingly hard to believe. The film ultimately has far too many plot holes and characters act in illogical and ridiculous ways. This might not be a terrible movie, but it's one with far too many flaws.

The story unfolds in an appropriate way, I'll give the movie credit for that. While we get some hints about the mother-in-law's controlling behavior, those flashes of obsession and psychosis are never fully revealed. It feels like she might have some instability in her personality, but she never comes across as psychotic. As the film goes on, her behavior becomes increasingly erratic before bursting wide open in the climax of the film. This structure made sense and although it was predictable, it helped the film more than it hurt. Part of the issue is that some of the behavior felt believable, while other aspects of it didn't make a whole lot of sense. It often wasn't even the bizarre behavior itself, but the absurd reactions to it other characters had. That is what made me continually roll my eyes.

One of the big strengths of the film is pairing Jessica Lange and Gwyneth Paltrow together. Lange gives a mostly good performance- she is believable as this character who wears a mask most of her life. Lange did a nice job of subtly showing these peeks at what lies beneath that mask. It might not have been a great performance, but it's a solid one. You could say the same thing about Paltrow. She works in the role and connects with the audience enough so that you care about her. There are moments where I simply didn't believe her performance, but those are minimal. Paltrow and Lange are certainly the most memorable aspects of the film. It felt like Jonathon Schaech was a poor choice for his role. He's not a very talented actor and that was exposed even more having to act opposite Lange and Paltrow. He was one of the worst parts of the movie, as his performance left so much to be desired.

Everything about this movie felt generic and it was like everyone involved was just going through the motions. The movie is too filled with cliches and lazy writing. It seems like such an unambitious movie. Just show up, film the scene and move onto the next one. There appears to be no care, no desire to do something interesting or special. The film is fairly short, but it still failed to hold my attention for long stretches of the movie. I maintained just enough interest in seeing how the story would ultimately play out. I never felt any deep connection to the film, though. The story is too black-and-white, when it needed more complexity and intelligence.

Thrillers like this are built in with some level of intensity, which helps hold our attention when those moments really ratchet up. Unfortunately, Hush as a whole is disappointing, a forgettable, bland movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6



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