Schadenfreude of the Highest Order

I anticipated Hide and Seek quite a bit. I find Dakota Fanning fascinating and disturbing and seeing her paired with De Niro in a horror film appealed to every bad movie instinct I have. The product does not disappoint. For a good hour and fifteen minutes this film is so badly written and obviously directed that I didn't stop laughing. This is the kind of film where the little girl has a cat for no reason other than so that it can jump out providing the audience with a false jolt of fear, and then it can be found drowned in a bathtub. As silly and laugh producing as the majority of the film is, it turns into a depressing exercise in the final twenty minutes. When the big surprise is revealed (and anyone who goes to the movies should be able to figure it out - I can't say much more without wrecking the film and good taste and common courtesy will not allow me to do that, but let's just say if you click here, here and here you will see examples of three other films that use the exact same plot twist) De Niro goes from underplaying to overplaying - and he seems uncomfortable about it the entire time. Much has been written in the last few weeks about the decline of Robert De Niro and while I think his legacy is untaintable - I will say that this is the worst performance he has ever given (and yes this from someone who suffered through the stupefying Analyze That). Dakota Fanning's dead-eye gaze is a frightening thing to behold, but this film is so silly that it only plays well as a comedy in which two talented performers try not to act ashamed of the film they are in. Only one of them succeeds.