Deadly dull

'What-ev-er' is the only reaction for director Clint Eastwood's ponderous 'Hereafter'

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Belinda Carlisle once assured us heaven is a place on earth.Director Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter" makes it clear that limbo is aplace inside a movie theater. It’s a meditation on mortality that doesn’toverindulge in shocks or sentimentality, but when it comes to ponderousness,well, the sky’s the limit.

Peter Morgan's screenplay takes its sweet old time linkingtogether (in a spectacularly silly way) three storylines: One of them ismoderately engaging but underdeveloped, while the other two are tedious andtension-free.

The intriguing mini-drama involves George Lonegan (MattDamon, effectively underplaying), a San Francisco warehouse worker with asecret: He was once a popular — and successful — psychic, a la John Edward(“Crossing Over”). If George’s brother, Billy (Jay Mohr), had his way, Georgewould still be pulling down big fees for putting clients in touch with theirdeparted spouses and children. But George has grown to detest his supposedtalent: “It’s not a gift, Billy,” he grumbles. “It’s a curse. It makes me feellike a freak. It ruins any chance I might have at a normal life.”

There’s plenty of potential in the Lonegans’ tug-of-war, butMorgan gives equal time to the tales of a British boy named Marcus (FrankieMcLaren) whose world collapses after the sudden death of his twin brother, anda dreary chronicle of French TV journalist Marie Lelay (Cecile de France),whose near-death experience changes the course of her career and her life.

Marie almost drowned when a tsunami destroyed the beachside townwhere she and her boyfriend were vacationing — a startling sequence that’sundermined by some half-baked CGI work that makes it look like the trailer for“The Day After the Day After Tomorrow” — and, in the weeks following her returnhome, she’s mystified by visions of shadowy figures bathed in milky whitelight. Meanwhile, Marcus tries to make contact with his deceased brother, onlyto be conned by a string of bogus “spiritualists” and “sensitives.”

It’s obvious Morgan and Eastwood are trying to create athoughtful, thought-provoking picture of how grief and survivor guilt (or theuncomfortable feeling of being “special”) can affect a person’s outlook. “Alife that’s all about death is no life at all,” George has told Billy, andthat’s demonstrated in the emotional paralysis that engulfs Marcus.

Sadly, the admirable intentions don’t pay off in compellingdrama. Outside of the tsunami sequence, “Hereafter” is a film that strenuouslyavoids anything exciting or emotionally charged. The trio of character portraitsmay take place in different countries, but they share the same tasteful,plodding, restrained tone. Granted, nobody wants to see Eastwood indulging in“Paranormal Activity”-style hijinks, but the movie practically cries out for alittle suspense or humor. As it is, “Hereafter” often amounts to nearly twohours and 10 minutes of glum faces, with Damon, de France and McLaren indownbeat mode from start to finish. Of the three, only Damon manages toconstruct a genuinely fascinating character.

Although “Hereafter” argues there must be some sort of lifeafter death, Eastwood is only sporadically successful when it comes toconvincing us there’s much life after the opening credits.

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