FEAR (58)

Directed by: James Foley

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Mark Wahlberg, William Petersen

The Pitch: A nice girl hooks up with a seemingly polite, well-mannered boy, ignoring her father's warnings about him ; he is, of course, a psycho.

Theo Sez: Any film that begins with its nubile young heroine taking a shower (albeit G-rated) clearly knows a thing or two about the pleasures of trash - but, despite a generic plot (and title), this actually goes beyond its rather functional genre (the psycho-within, all the rage a few years back - HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE et al.), not least in fleshing out and transforming the reactionary father-knows-best premise. Dear Old Dad is a mass of insecurities here, indirectly responsible for most of the damage he seeks to prevent - precipitating his daughter into the arms of his rival, then driving her even further away by bullying her about it ; and the fact that the two are rivals (the inscription on our heroine's bracelet changes from "Daddy's Girl" to "David's Girl" - causing Daddy to freak out) is typical of the film's careful approach to character. Reese (what else can you possibly call her?) works similar miracles as in FREEWAY, building a wholly adorable character - warm, no-bull, eager to please - out of unpromising material ; and there's a fine (Carter Burwell) score, and almost enough neat touches to justify the glimpse of someone wearing an Alfred Hitchcock T-shirt. No masterpiece, to be sure - little tension or surprise, just a game of spot-the- psycho plus a big action climax - but there's a certain pleasure in seeing genre done neatly and with care ; it's almost the same as re-imagining it.