The Forgotten is a movie that I would like to forget. How this particular film ever got made I'll never know. I think the principles must have stopped reading the script somewhere in the middle because had they bothered to read the whole thing, I have no doubt this would have ended up at the top of the trash bin.

The first half of the film is actually quite good. We immediately sympathize with Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) who lost her 9-year-old son Sam in a tragic plane crash. The loss has devastated her and placed her marriage to Jim (Anthony Edwards) in jeopardy. To help her cope, she's in grief therapy with Dr. Munce (Gary Sinise) who is helping her come to terms with her loss. Only it's not really a loss.  What Dr. Munce and Jim finally break to Telly is that her loss, like her son, isn't real. She never had a son. She made it up. Her son is a figment of her fanciful imagination. But Telly knows she's not crazy and she approaches the father of another child, Ash (Dominic West) who died in the same crash. Together, the two of them try to find the truth about what really happened to their children. 

Up until this point, the story is good. It moved along briskly. I liked the characters. Moore, West and  Sinise gave solid performances (Alfre Woodard is underused in her thankless detective role). Most importantly, we, the audience, really wanted to know what happened to the children and why no one remembered them. The answer to that question is so implausible and utterly preposterous that it defies belief.

The Forgotten does have a few 'jump in your seat' moments, but they are far outweighed by the stupid plot and ridiculous resolution.  

Do yourself a favor and forget The Forgotten.