Amnesia

source: Amnesia

Paul Keller (Nicholas Walker) is a Reverend married to Martha (Ally Sheedy) with stepson Edgar. Nobody is happy and he's having an affair with Edgar's teacher Veronica Dow. Charlene Hunt (Sally Kirkland) runs the motel where he has his tryst. In order to escape his life, he plans to fake his own death and running away with Veronica. Instead, he hits his head and suffers amnesia. Disturbed Charlene finds him and keeps it a secret. Insurance investigator Tim Bishop (John Savage) examines Paul's large policy claim. The story is full of holes. I don't see how any of it is supposed to work. There is no way that a death could be declared so soon without a body. The police is non-existent in the plot. I don't know how he's supposed to get his hands on his insurance money. I don't know why Veronica would work with Martha and vice versa. It seems to be trying for a black comedy but it doesn't work. It's trying to do a lot. Honestly, I was only interested to check out Ally Sheedy and she's fine. This movie is not so fine. It just doesn't work.

I caught this film the other night on one of the cable channels (Showtime, I think), and, though it has some bad points, it's solid overall. ***POSSIBLE SPOILERS*** The main problem with the film is Sally Kirkland, a great actress who fails to convince here in a comedic role. Her scene with Paul (Nicholas Walker) in which she calls him her "Romeo to my Juliet" and her "Marc Anthony to my Cleopatra" is poorly done. Her repeating of "douchebag b*tch" as she shoots at Dara Tomanovich is also strange. On to the okay--Tomanovich. She doesn't perform badly, but she doesn't set me on fire, either. Her scenes of supposed "outrage" (like when she learns of the $1 million insurance policy) don't convince, but her performance is serviceable. Then, we get to the good: Nicholas Walker. He isn't supposed to engender sympathy, and he sure doesn't! The scenes in which he tries (like his defending his wife after Tomanovich's desire for said wife to die) are unconvincing and turn a potentially very good performance in to a good one. The son (Vincent Berry) also is good, but he needed more emotion in his performance. And, now, on to the very good--Savage and Sheedy. Savage's portrayal is beautifully disgusting, and I'd have liked to have seen more of him, while Sheedy is convincing and sympathetic as the conned wife who finally has had enough. One thing: How does a minister get a $1 mil insurance policy? Overall, fairly well done.

Where to start... If this movie had been a dark comedy, I would say it was FANNN-TASTIC! Unfortunately for me, and anyone else with free time and a buck to spare (mind you that was the price I paid, got it from Wal-Mart), this movie was meant to be a thriller. The only THRILL I got was watching Kirkland's lousy rendition of Anne Wilkes from Misery sans snowy woodland area. If you want a good laugh, on a rainy Friday night with some friends, then I highly recommend this movie. But if you want to watch something at least half way decent, then don't even bother. I for one enjoy crappy films, the worse the better in most cases. But Wow... I Meant WOW!! The only person in the entire film that didn't stink it up was the little boy, played by Vincent Berry. The only reason why I even give it 3 stars is because it gave me something to do.

Paul Keller (Nicholas Walker) is a Father married with the widow with a son Martha Keller (Ally Sheedy) and lives in a small town. He has an affair with the local schoolteacher Veronica Dow (Dara Tomanovich) in a hotel managed by Charlene Hunt (Sally Kirkland), who has a crush for Paul. One day, he pretends to fake his death and leave town with Veronica, but he indeed suffers an accident and loses his memory. A crap investigator (John Savage) from the insurance company comes to the town, where very strange situations will happen. This movie blends `Misery' with `Fatal Attraction' and is not indicated for all the publics, but for the viewers who enjoy a very black humor flick. My vote is six.

This film has some seriously wasted talent, like the previous commenter said. The film would have been more decent had it had a better budget and storyline. It was a typical hallmark-style take on a murder mystery which wasn't a murder mystery, it was evident what would eventually happen .. predictable and the ending was rather callous, in that it was kind of demented. My favourite thing about the whole movie was the music at the beginning and end which i thought sounded extremely Australian outback-like, but also added some enigmatic atmosphere to the themes highlighted in the film itself, if that makes any sense. I got this film for $1 at Wal Mart and being from England and hoping to study film studies at Uni, I thought what better opportunity to study film than to buy a load of cheap digiview DVDs. I wasn't expecting amazing story lines and directing/acting, but this one was admittedly better than "Second Chance", which doesn't really do much justice to the cast and director at all. So here's my 5/10 rating for being ordinary yet reasonable. Mel x

I liked the movie a real lot. Wanted to see it just for Dara Tomanovich, but the plot and story were ok too. A very cool change in plot when you least expect it.

Instead, go to the zoo, buy some peanuts and feed 'em to the monkeys. Monkeys are funny. People with amnesia who don't say much, just sit there with vacant eyes are not all that funny. Black comedy? There isn't a black person in it, and there isn't one funny thing in it either. Walmart buys these things up somehow and puts them on their dollar rack. It's labeled Unrated. I think they took out the topless scene. They may have taken out other stuff too, who knows? All we know is that whatever they took out, isn't there any more. The acting seemed OK to me. There's a lot of unfathomables tho. It's supposed to be a city? It's supposed to be a big lake? If it's so hot in the church people are fanning themselves, why are they all wearing coats?

source: Amnesia

Paul Keller (Nicholas Walker) is a Father married with the widow with a son Martha Keller (Ally Sheedy) and lives in a small town. He has an affair with the local schoolteacher Veronica Dow (Dara Tomanovich) in a hotel managed by Charlene Hunt (Sally Kirkland), who has a crush for Paul. One day, he pretends to fake his death and leave town with Veronica, but he indeed suffers an accident and loses his memory. A crap investigator (John Savage) from the insurance company comes to the town, where very strange situations will happen. This movie blends `Misery' with `Fatal Attraction' and is not indicated for all the publics, but for the viewers who enjoy a very black humor flick. My vote is six.