The Drowning

This movie is all about wannabe and turns out not to be about much of anything. I'm a big fan of both Josh Charles and Julia Stiles, and can't believe what ended up on film is what they signed up,for. Stiles is completely wasted in this part. The plot is as nonsensical as the ending. Do not waste your time.

You have seen this cookie cutter paint by numbers 'mystery/thriller'a million times. Manipulative genius sociopath who has everyone conned, who gaslights everyone because they are too stupid to know any better. A creepy stalker who breaks into people's homes threatens them and gets them to apologize to him and/or gets the people he threatens arrested. This is a tired worn out boring story. It was tired and worn out 50 years ago. Every single stereotypic angle from every single movie remotely like this was thrown in. It is the stupidest most frustrating rich white people doing the dumbest things imaginable movie you will ever watch. It's so aggressively dull it's a new art form.

Possibly the worst film ever made. Poor plot, poor script and unrealistic characters and behaviours. Avoid. The fact that I have to write five lines about this drivel offends me, but if it means that someone else doesn't waste 90 minutes of their life watching it then I guess it is worth it.

I am baffled by the volume of one star reviews, and such a low score, I could list a number of one star movies, this is no way near being in that group, it's not Oscar winning, but it's a decent enough watch. The premise is really clever, when you save someone's life you don't know what past they have, or what kind of future ahead of them. The movie manages to have you asking questions, was Danny guilty, did Danny consciously jump into the water knowing that Tom was there. It may be a little ambiguous for some viewers, but then life isn't always black and white. Pretty good performances, Josh Charles and Avan Jogia were both watchable, Julia Styles I thought was a little wooden, maybe the part wasn't great. I disagree with those that say the material was old fashioned, I would have said the content was quite relevant in today's age. I'll admit it was a little frustrating to watch at times, and some of it, like Danny's father's involvement, made little sense.

It wasn't that bad. 6/10

Psychologist Tom Seymour (Josh Charles) saves Danny Miller (Avan Jogia) from drowning and later realizes Danny was the 11-yr old that his psycho analysis helped put Danny in prison for killing an elderly woman. Danny got an early release and blames Tom for ruining his life. The problem now is that Danny keeps showing up everywhere Tom and his wife Lauren (Julia Stiles) happen to be.

We keep thinking that Tom will re-look at the case to see if he missed something 10 Years ago because Danny keeps saying he never killed anyone. Tom checks with the lawyer who helped prosecute Danny. Danny is now known as Ian. Lauren is smitten with Ian and this disturbs Tom and he isn't sure what to do, but doesn't tell Lauren his concerns about Ian um….. Danny. We sometimes think that Lauren isn't too supportive of Tom, but she doesn't know what he is going through.

Notables: John C. McGinley as Teddy the lawyer who prosecuted Danny 10-Years ago; Robert Clohessy as Danny's father.

Production-wise and the acting all around are very good and we become like Tom……. wary of everything.

The twist in here isn't really a twist, but more a solution to Tom's problem. Wait for it, but this is slow going because the script sends Tom (and us) in many directions. Be patient and you will be rewarded as we were. So wait for it. Ha! (7/10)

Violence; Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes.