Such a frustrating disappointment

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I remember going to this movie when it first came out...for two reasons...I like horror movies, and I wanted to see how Robert Downey, Jr. was faring...after all, he was still in his downward drug spiral when this was filmed. I remember walking out of the film thinking what a waste of 2 hours that was. But, it was on cable, now 14 years later, so I thought I'd try it again. Once again, a waste of 2 hours. Thank goodness I am home with a back injury and have lots of time to kill!Some things I liked about this film: Annette Bening plays a nut job really good...and I mean it. The scene where Bening is searching for her daughter is really good; as is the scene where there's an apple on the swing, the swing is swinging and the dog is barking, and the radio suddenly begins playing "Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me".Some things I dislike about this film: The photography is unnecessarily dark...and for no good reason. Aiden Quinn mumbles too much (of course, that is solved gruesomely). We don't really see Robert Downey, Jr. until way beyond halfway through the film. And then, what's he's doing here is not acting...he must have laughed all the way to the bank! Why would a hospital -- even a mental hospital -- be that run down? The best part of the film is...the ending..simply because it's over.

I was watching a previous programme, left the recorder hard drive on.. started watching near the start without realising it was.... SO..OK.. I fell in love with the lead character. Gorgeous..but.. I'm not sure the write up of the film in the TV guide was right.... I got the wrong impression.. NOW I know.. ah!! If you start at the beginning, and I watched it again after it finished thinking.. eh? Did I miss something. Actually no.. the film leads you into the story nicely, interesting obviously flooded town for a reservoir.. OK.. it IS a film you have to see from the start. You'll get confused as heck if you don't. Shes brilliant.. the daughter, cute of course.. hubby, OK.. one is reminded of Medium the TV series but this hubby isn't used to coping. Thats part of what makes it sad.. she really gets a 'bum deal'. One feels for her, even if one doesn't fancy her..(ahem).. but what is real? I didn't like the end but having seen it twice, it makes sense.. its NOT spelled out. I did get drawn in and it kept me up much later than intended.. that to me is good. WHAT the hells going to happen. The stunts..very well done and if one is going to do a major..stunt.. for me, not enough was shown of it happening.. a recent Steve McQueen TV/film stunt was shown from many angles to MAKE you realise they did it for real.. and how well it was done.. this time.. I'm not sure. I didn't like the end, but where this film is concerned.. I suppose it couldn't end any other way. Yes it could.. no it couldn't, excuse me.. pantomime time soon. Anyone who wants the story spelled out, no.. it doesn't, and thats what makes it intriguing, if you haven't patience to stay with it to find out.. like some said they almost did.. in the cinema? What a shame, such a bril film wasn't appreciated. We do get so many of these on Brit late night TV in the UK..BBC, uninterrupted, and that helps. WISH they were on EARLIER!!!

This is a movie to be watched more than listened to. Let the visuals have their way with you and you are going to have an exciting, nail-biting two hours capped with a perfect-fit ending.If you look for meaning, logical connections and perfect continuity, don't bother. It's not going to work for you. It's not that kind of movie. This is not "Silence of the Lambs" or "Se7en." It's more like Nicholas Roeg's twisted little masterpiece, "Don't Look Now." In fact, I recommend that movie to anyone (the few, the proud, the brave) who can see what a terrific movie In Dreams is.Annette Bening, who is in 90 percent of In Dreams, turns in a bravura performance (if you're reading this, Annette, give us a kiss, you ravishing hunk of woman. Speaking of dreams ... well, uh, let's not go there. Let's just say I've about worn out my copy of The Grifters). The story is simple. Bening plays a mom being driven mad by dreams put in her head by the sicko who killed her daughter. These dreams are of events in the past, things happening now and things that haven't happened yet. A lot of the movie is Bening having nervous breakdowns, each one worse than the one before. The apple-throwing sequence is brilliantly acted and shot. Incredible tension. Major props, also, to the big car and truck crash scene. Jordan puts you right there.Aidan Quinn, as her husband, doesn't have much to do but act baffled, but he's good at that. Stephen Rea, as the psychiatrist, performs the same role as the psychiatrist at the end of Psycho, tying together events from years past to what's going on now. Robert Downey Jr. plays the nutcase very well.This movie looks gorgeous — small town Massachusetts in the fall. Vivid colors you could eat with a spoon. The scene with the little boy atop the church steeple poking out of the lake is really eerie.Again, the visuals in this movie are extraordinary. In Dreams is not about something that could actually happen to real people. It's a wonderfully made adult horror movie that, compared to other horror movies, is actually restrained. Check it out.BTW, the trailer of this movie, which I watched on the DVD, is just awful. It looks like a completely different movie, and a bad one, at that.

** SOME SPOILERS ** There are a handful of directors out there - Brian De Palma is another - who believe that the way to make a convincing psychological thriller is just to steal wholesale from Psycho. Neil Jordan goes further and steals not only from De Palma's famous Carrie ending too, but also the red-obsession and drowning themes of Don't Look Now and the dripping red wallscrawl of The Shining, plus all the usual lunatic asylum clichés. He also reckons that by attaching a Roy Orbison song onto the end of the movie the effect will be as chilling as a David Lynch film, rather than just plain funny.In Dreams wants to be an intelligent and adult thriller, but like a director with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Jordan just can't help himself loading his film with meaningless clichés and nods to his favourite horror movies.The early domestic scenes are effective, as is the gut-wrenching murder which takes place a short way into the film; but once Bening is committed, the film takes a turn for the usual, and instead of being interesting, incisive or intelligent, just throws a lot of MTV tricks and regurgitated movie moments at the screen hoping that some of them will stick.By far the worst thing about the film is Robert Downey Jr., who undoes anything remaining to keep the viewer interested by his cartoonishly camp turn, and we're treated to yet another mother-obsessive lunatic with a penchant for cross-dressing.This is a good film to watch if you have an apple fetish or enjoy being untroubled by original ideas.