Flatliners

Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon all bring conviction to these scenes, and William Baldwin, as the most irresponsible of the students, continues to suggest an electric screen presence that rivals his brother Alec.

Except for the performances by Roberts and Bacon, which occasionally redeem it, Flatliners is exasperating, a compelling concept unfulfilled.

All I remember is that, just before I came to, there was a sudden burst of brightness. At last the movie was over, and someone had turned on the lights in the theater.

The movie's problem, like many others recently, is that it isn't any deeper, dramatically or psychologically, than its own trailer. It is the trailer: the long version.

It`s much to Schumacher's credit that Flatliners, for all of its crazy excess, does not turn into camp. Despite two or three bad laughs, the picture retains a basic conviction.