Premonition (2007 film)

Premonition is a 2007 American supernatural thriller film directed by Mennan Yapo and starring Sandra Bullock, Julian McMahon, and Amber Valletta. The film's plot depicts a housewife named Linda who experiences the days surrounding her husband's death in a non-chronological order, and how she attempts to save him from his impending doom.

Plot
Jim and Linda Hanson are married with two daughters, Megan and Bridgette, but their relationship is faltering. Jim is away on a business trip when, just after Linda listens to a phone message from him, Sheriff Reilly knocks on the door and tells her that Jim died in a car accident on the previous day. Linda’s mother, Joanne arrives to help the family through its grief. Linda falls asleep on the living room couch, only to wake up in bed instead. She is shocked to see Jim downstairs drinking coffee and watching TV. While on the road, Linda is pulled over by Sheriff Reilly, who does not recognize her.

The next day, Jim is again dead and Bridgette has scars on her face. Linda awakes next to an empty bottle of lithium pills, prescribed by Dr. Norman Roth. At the burial for Jim, she notices a strange woman mourning at a distance. She flees when Linda approaches her. Linda finds Dr. Roth's phone number in the garbage, but his voice mail message states that the office is only open on weekdays. Roth later subdues Linda with two assistants and Sheriff Reilly, and she is committed to a mental health facility. Roth confides in Reilly that Linda told him Jim was dead the day before the accident, suggesting the likelihood that she murdered Jim and scarred Bridgette's face. Linda wakes up in her bed again and finds Jim in the shower. After dropping the girls off at school, she goes to see Dr. Roth, who does not recognize her. Linda tells Roth about the premonitions she has been having. He prescribes lithium. While visiting Jim at his office, Linda meets the stranger from the funeral, who introduces herself as Claire Francis. Linda gradually realizes that Jim was planning to have an affair with Claire on his business trip, and starts to contemplate allowing Jim to die. Back at the house, despite Linda's urging, Bridgette runs through a glass door, cutting her face and hands. Linda throws Dr. Roth's number in the garbage before realizing that the days are unfolding out of order. She records Tuesday as the current day, Saturday as the funeral's day and Wednesday as Jim's death. Before Jim goes to bed she says to him, "if tomorrow is Wednesday, please, please wake me up before you leave."

On Friday she visits the insurance agent. He tells her that Jim tripled his life insurance benefits on the morning of his accident. On the previous Sunday, Linda visits Father Kennedy who tells her a story about a woman with similar experiences who was hanged for witchcraft. That night, Linda puts pressure on Jim to show her the same affection he used to have. They argue, but Jim finds his feelings for her being reawakened. Linda wakes up in her bed on Wednesday and reads a note from Jim saying that he has taken the kids to school. She searches for Jim, who calls the house and leaves the message from the beginning of the film. He then calls Claire and tells her he is not going through with their planned affair. As Linda and Jim near the site of the accident, Linda reaches him by cell phone and the two have a reconciliation. Linda tells Jim to turn the car around in order to avert the accident; this instead causes the accident, as Jim's car stalls in the middle of the road when performing the turn. The movie ends with Linda pregnant with another child.

Cast

 * Julian McMahon as James "Jim" Hanson
 * Sandra Bullock as Linda Hanson
 * Courtney Taylor Burness as Bridgette Hanson
 * Shyann McClure as Megan Hanson
 * Amber Valletta as Claire Francis
 * Nia Long as Annie
 * Kate Nelligan as Joanne
 * Marc Macaulay as Sheriff Reilly
 * Jude Ciccolella as Father Kennedy
 * Peter Stormare as Dr. Norman Roth
 * Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick as Simon Hanson
 * Mark Famiglietti as Doug Caruthers
 * Marcus Lyle Brown as Bob
 * E.J. Stapleton as Model Home Salesman
 * Matt Moore as Priest
 * Irene Zeigler as Mrs. Quinn

Production
Principal photography mostly took place in Minden and Shreveport, Louisiana. This film is also the first to be co-distributed by TriStar Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Release
The film was first released in the U.S. on March 16, 2007. The film was not released theatrically in Norway, it was released direct-to-video on January 2, 2008 in that country.

Home media
The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 17, 2007.

Box office
Premonition opened in 2,831 theaters and came in third place behind 300 and Wild Hogs, opening with $17,558,689 with a $6,202 average. The film stayed in theaters for 7 weeks and grossed $47,852,604 in the United States and $84,146, 832 worldwide.

Critical reception
The film received negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 8% of 161 critics gave the film a positive review, with a rating average of 3.8 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "Overdosing on flashbacks, and more portentous than profound, the overly obtuse Premonition weakly echoes such twisty classics as Memento, The Sixth Sense, and Groundhog Day." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, the film is considered to have "generally unfavorable reviews" with a rating score of 29 based on 30 critics. Despite the weak reviews, several critics, including Rex Reed, commended Sandra Bullock for her performance. The film was nominated in three categories at the 28th Golden Raspberry Awards.