Mystérieuse disparition

I have never written a review on IMDb even though I view this site daily and have for 5 or 6 years. I'm not a movie snob; I'm like most people: I want to be entertained or made to think because of what I am viewing.

This movie could have been quite good. It isn't. Brittany M. was fine, but no one else was. The minor roles were cast with unknowns. Their acting was as poor as you'll find in a studio produced motion picture. This must have been done on a "shoe string" as everything about it appears cheaply done. You'll notice that the guns sound like cap guns.

Beyond its predictability, I think what bothered me most was the amateurish acting of everyone except Murphy and the Lieutenant; even Cain was poor. Was it poor direction and a bad script that created this serious flaw? I don't know. I do know that it sticks out like a sore thumb.

An pretty simple but suspenseful thriller that to me is very similar to Flightplan but set in a hospital. It had an very hitchcock like vibe to it as the innocent Mary Walsh who is played by the lovely Brittany Murphy what is tragically her last role is accused of being crazy when she reports that her boyfriend of 4 years is missing from the hospital and finds out that they have no record of him being there. This was a pretty basic movie when it came to action and it was almost borderline lifetime movie of the week to me but it was very watchable and kind of kept me on the edge of my seat guessing why this was all happening to her and the twist which I kind of saw coming from a mile away was pretty messed up but still pretty standard though. The acting was mostly on the weaker side but Brittany Murphy's performances always has this charm to them but you can sadly tell that her state of health wasn't good in this movie and it looked like they tried to hide it by putting a lot of makeup on her but her hair looked greasy and crusty it was tragic to see. Overall it wasn't the best movie ever and I've seen it done better before but if you like Brittany Murphy you should check it out because she pretty much saves the movie from completely sucking but don't expect anything out of the ordinary. More of a 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Her real-life death was tragic. Also sad her last movie was direct-to-video. It's a decent-to-good movie, but retreads grounds covered by many movies in the same genre. If it had struck out on it's own and paved new ground, or tried harder to be original the film could have been a better send-off for Brittany's career. All credit to the actress for a fine performance, especially considering she was gravely ill. It's far from Heath Ledger as Joker, but given the material she does a pretty good job. Interesting to note that she looked ill throughout the movie and I don't think it was an intended look. At times she was ghastly, sunken face black rings around her eyes. According to Wikipedia she was severely anemic (losing blood) which explains her paleness and ghastly appearance. She was also suffering from pneumonia.

Dean Cain does a fine job of playing her mysterious boyfriend, able to play the good guy well and leave you wondering about his motivations because he has played villainous roles since his Superman days. Mimi Rogers plays the hospital administrator well making you wonder if she is part of a conspiracy or just doing her job. Overall, this is pretty much a mystery and thriller movie. The downside is once the mystery is revealed (and it is done a bit too soon in my opinion)then it begins to retread many movies of the same vein, once I saw the big "reveal" everything that came after was standard formula and very predictable.

The movie is nice as a rental but I advise you rent it and not blind-buy it. If you like what you see it's a nice movie to have in a collection, not a must-buy, but if you like Brittany Murphy and want to own her last screen appearance then I recommend getting this. Had she not died it still would have been a decent movie, not great but worthy of seeing and maybe owning. I liked her outing in Across The Hall (and having just looked it up the rating for that was a 6 too but thought that was better than this). Maybe this is knocked down to a 5 because of a lack of originality and the acting in the latter half of the movie. I won't be surprised if the fan rating is higher based on her death.

It's a decent movie, but been rehashed plenty of times before (notably a lot of Ashley Judd 90's movies). It starts out well and keeps a good mystery going until one point in the film where you knew where everything was heading down a very worn path made by much better films like Double Jeopardy. Maybe I am overrating it due to the actress's death, but I kinda liked the movie. Read my review here -

http://www.movie-vault.com/reviews/abandoned-bluray/

In Los Angeles, the manager of bank Mary Walsh (Brittany Murphy) brings her boyfriend Kevin Peterson (Dean Cain) to the County Memorial Hospital for an orthopedic surgery of ligaments of his left knee with Dr. Harding. Mary is a needy woman that has just lost her mother ago and started a relationship with Kevin four months ago. Mary meets Kevin still wearing his brace on the left leg in the preparation room of the hospital that is going to shut down and the nurse Amanda asks her to move to the waiting room. When Mary seeks information about the surgery, she finds that there is no record of Kevin in the system and he has vanished. Further, Dr. Harding is on vacation and there is no nurse Amanda in the staff. She calls the police and Detective Franklin (Jay Pickett) that is in a routine check-up in the hospital is assigned to the case. No one believes in Mary and when she accidentally drops her anti-depressive pills on the floor, she is sent to psychological evaluation with Dr. Markus Bensley (Peter Bogdanovich) that diagnoses her as unstable and delusional woman. Mary flees from his office and seeks out Kevin alone disclosing the truth about her prince charming.

"Abandoned" is the last chapter of Kevin's book; and also the last chapter of the life of the promising actress Brittany Murphy. The implausible plot is entertaining despite the flaws and incoherences. How could an unstable woman have the authority to handle large amounts in her bank? Further, if she is so powerful how could she have such stupid attitudes in the hospital? In her situation, she would immediately call her lawyer to handle the situation with the hospital administration and the police. The hair of Brittany Murphy is awful and she looks very tired in this film. The former Superman is out of shape and very fat and the ham actor Peter Bogdanovich is terrible in the role of an incompetent psychologist. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Busca Alucinante" ("Alucinating Chase")

They should have burned the work print out of respect for B.M! This "movie" gets my pick for worst movie I have seen in 2010. I'm sorry, I really liked Brittany and hate to see this as the last thing she put out before her tragic death. The acting, the writing, the story, the lighting, the continuity...everything is just pathetic. Its completely low budget, or at least the quality of the work is. Save yourself the 2 hours, you'd be better off watching grass grow.

*I only write reviews for really amazing movies or REALLY horrible movies. This is my first review in years, if that helps you judge how awful this was.