The Mothman Prophecies A Movie Review	MPAA Rated - PG-13 It's 1:59 Long A Review by The Dude on the Right

In the movie Richard Gere plays John Klein. Alright, I’m probably going to spoil some things by writing this review, but I don’t think it will really matter in your enjoyment, or maybe lack of enjoyment of this movie. Anyway, he’s a hotshot writer for the Washington Post. He and his wife, Mary (Debra Messing), just decided to by a house after testing out if the closet was a good place to have sex or not. Sadly, on their way home, Mary gets spooked by some ghost-like thing that John doesn’t see, she swerves and slams her head against the window. The MRI shows she has a tumor that wasn’t present before, and low and behold, she dies.

So it’s a couple of years later, John still hasn’t really gotten over her, and rather than get set up on a blind date, John leaves early to go interview the Governor of Virginia. Somehow John gets diverted and magically finds his way to Point Pleasant, West Virginia. It is there that strange things are happening, starting when his car conks out and he finds a house to make a phone call. That’s not so strange, but when Gordon (Will Patton) threatens to kill him because he’s been bothering him for the last three nights, well, John is confused because he’s never been there before. Enter Connie (Laura Linney), a cop in Point Pleasant, who starts to explain the strange things that are afoot in their little town.

Well, John becomes obsessed with the strange occurrences, namely because one of the townsfolk made a drawing of the Mothman that was similar to what Mary supposedly saw before she crashed their car. Strange phone calls happen, Gordon seems to be going more and more crazy, and now John tracks down Dr. Leek (Alan Bates), a paranormal author who eventually explains to John about the Mothman and how doom and gloom always seem to follow where he goes.

Blah, blah, blah, eventually the bridge collapses and people die.

As a twisted horror movie "The Mothman Prophecies" wasn’t too bad. It has some scary moments, some unbelievable coincidences, and a cozy ending, but what kills a good horror story is saying it’s based on real events. For a good horror you need to be able to suspend just about any belief you have about logistical events, but instead of being able to suspend belief, saying it’s based on true events make you just go "Please, give me a break." And then, with all of these supposed sightings, you would think they could have come up with a police sketch that could have translated into a real Mothman character rather than just a shadowy figure with red eyes. Based on true events meant I couldn’t suspend my reality, instead I just sat there going, "Oh, come on. Give me a break."

And so, what could have been a fun horror movie just fell flat. A lot of potential was evident in "The Mothman Prophecies" but only if I could pass it off as fiction rather than some true paranormal event that preceded a bridge collapse. It’s 2 stars out of 5 for "The Mothman Prophecies." If you’ve seen most every other movie out there and really need to see a show, catch a matinee.  If not, maybe wait for the video.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!