Abandoned

Brittany Murphy had that something special. A certain look, an allure, a presence. As the French say, a certain something I don't know what. You see it in this movie. It's a drama/mystery/suspense flick that for some reason went direct to video.

Brittany drops off her boyfriend (Dean Cain) at the hospital for routine, out patient surgery. Except when she goes to pick him up, no one seems to know anything about him. He's not in the computer, his doctor is on vacation, and no one recognizes his nurse's name. Brittany gives a very good performance as the increasingly worried girl friend, seemingly losing the only man she has really connected with in a long time, or ever. Someone who has been there for her, and now, despite her best efforts, she can't be there for him. Peter Bogdanovich is also good as the creepy psychiatrist who suspects Brittany is suffering from a mental break down, a suspicion fueled by her current high dose anti-depressant meds and an unlikely story reeking of paranoia.

Supporting cast include Mimi Rogers as the clueless hospital administrator, Jay Pickett as the police detective with his own issues who is still good enough to follow the clues to the end, and Scott Anthony Leet as the intimidating security guard. Each give a competent performance that is credible.

The suspense is "edge of your seat" quality, and you can not be sure of the ending until it happens. Some (including me) might think it fairly obvious based on the plot clues, but that part is only the beginning of the twists.

As Brittany's final performance, this one is good enough to make you want to watch again sometime. Ultimately, it makes you wish she had longer to show us what she had.

This was Brittany Murphy's last film, she's quite elegant and captivating on the screen (I enjoyed her voice work on King of the Hill as well). It's a very weak movie overall; aside from Murphy and Pickett, the actors were deers in the headlight. I feel that if they incorporated the best friend character more (whether that friend was part of the conspiracy or if she worked to help get Mary out of the hospital) it would have helped keep things exciting.

There's honestly no reason the character should be placed on a 72 hour psychiatric hold, no hospital staff member established that she is a danger to herself or others. Being on anti-depressant medication seems insufficient to place someone on a psych hold.

RIP Brittany Murphy and Jay Pickett.

Brittany Murphy existed in this. Her performance was great and the film isn't a bad film although it has been done too many times to stand out from the crowd. Its very cliché and been done so many times. From the off the film has you gripped and carries you along with enough intrigue to keep you watching. But what is distracting is the state of Brittany Murphy's health. Yes we all know this is her last film but you really need to watch this movie to know why. She is underweight, pale, sunken eyes and really bad lank hair. Why she wasn't in hospital instead of making this movie i will never know. Such a shame as she was really great in spite of her health problems in this film. Some things simply cannot be hidden by make up. RIP Brittany x

Although this film has not had the best of reviews, I decided to watch it for myself. I'm glad with my decision, as I was glued to the screen from start to finish and would say that it was not the disappointment as previous viewers had hinted.

I will admit that after a short while it was easy to guess what was going on with the plot, but even so I was still rather pleasantly surprised with the couple of twists that lay in store for me. I'm not convinced that some of the supporting cast were that great, particularly Scott Anthony Leet who I felt was rather 'wooden'. However, the main characters certainly got my vote.

It's rather sad that we wont be seeing any more of Brittany Murphy.

Well...when you have Dean Cain as a lead, you just know that you aren't in for a Oscar winner!

So the movie is "meh" while the ending was okay. However most of the acting is very "Lifetime-y"... as in not great, Brittany being the only exception.

The only reason I even gave this one a shot is because I had watched the documentary about Brit's life and I wanted to see her final role.

The real reason for my comment is to express the sadness I felt when watching Brittany.

Aside from the fact she was so much better that this B- flick, you could easily see her decline on screen.

She appeared very gaunt, and there was a discernible difference in her teeth.

I don't know how Simon (her husband) managed to have enough pull to be her stylist, but it was atrocious.

Her hair looked frayed and covered in gel; there were actually scenes where it was sticking up (and why they didn't fix it before filming, I'll never know) Her makeup was the worst I've ever seen on her... Weird eyebrows, badly lined lips, and heavy blush.

It was just...terribly disheartening to see what she had transformed into thanks to the influence of an obvious con-man.

The movie itself really isn't worth the watch, especially when Brittany had some very wonderful performances under her belt prior to this, and those are the ones she should be remembered for.