A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: White Noise

Date of original theatrical release: 2005

Details:

Michael Keaton

Chandra West

Deborah Kara Unger

Ian McNeice

Nicholas Elia

Director: Geoffrey Sax

Score: 1/2

The Review: I've said it before, but it bears repeating: man is a pattern-seeking organism. Given sufficient concentration, motivation, persistence or delusion, even white noise will yield up patterns, messages or images. Whether this might be considered pathological depends on the source, the interpretation and the consequences. White Noise illustrates some of the problems with each of these points.

Stochastic resonance may be real, but White Noise is fiction. Couched as a paranormal-themed mystery-thriller, it opens to the death of architect Jonathan Rivers' (Keaton) wife (West). Soon Rivers becomes connected to the world of EVP (electronic voice phenomena), and this tenuous connection blossoms into full obsession and extreme danger.

This movie is in a similar vein to The Mothman Prophecies, albeit somewhat more credulous and not quite as balanced nor interesting. The skeptics in the house may prefer this definition of EVP, which carries the quotation from Thomas Edison that is used as a silent prelude to White Noise.

(5-Mar-06)

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