One must strike a delicate balance in order for a film like "Premonition" -- in which a housewife foresees her husband's death and must act to prevent it -- to be successful. The premise lends itself so readily to absurdity that unintended comedy is almost unavoidable.

Mennan Yapo, director of "Premonition," is not able to avoid the pitfalls, and I'm not sure how hard he even tried. What use is there in having the husband's severed head accidentally fall out of the coffin? That isn't creepy or scary; it's over-the-top and hilarious. How can we be expected to take the movie seriously when it's behaving in such a fashion? (In the DVD commentary, Yapo and Bullock let that particular moment pass without even referring to the head. Are they embarrassed by it, as they should be? Or do they consider it perfectly normal and thus not worth commenting on?)

Sandra Bullock plays Linda Hanson, the housewife who becomes unstuck in time and keeps waking up on different days immediately preceding and following her husband Jim's (Julian McMahon) death. She's told on Thursday that he died on Wednesday; when she wakes up the next morning it's Monday, and the car accident hasn't happened yet. Next thing she knows it's Saturday, the day of the funeral and the bumbling, head-dropping mortuary employees.

As Linda tries to figure out the timeline involved in saving Jim's life, the film tosses in other mysteries to pad out the running time. The couple has two daughters, the older of whom (Courtney Taylor Burness) suddenly has recent injuries to her face. Linda finds a dead bird in the backyard and ominously smears some of its blood on the sliding glass door. An anonymous blonde (Amber Valletta) turns up at the funeral. These details, all of them underlined in some way, prove to be distractions from the central issue, and I found myself frequently wishing the movie would just get on with things. Either she can prevent Jim's death, or she can't. Let's get to that point and find out which it is.

Even more wasteful is the way the film brings up deeper philosophical issues, then doesn't do anything with them. "If I let Jim die, is that the same as killing him?" Linda wonders at one point. She even visits a priest (apparently she is a lapsed Catholic, though this is the first we've heard of it) to discuss fate and destiny. But is any point or conclusion ever derived from these brief forays into philosophy? Nope. Just a rehashed "Twilight Zone" plot stretched over 90 minutes while Sandra Bullock stumbles around working on her "baffled" face.


THE DVD

There is an optional French-language track, plus English, French, and Spanish subtitles. The director's commentary is subtitled, too, which is a nice touch.

VIDEO: The anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) transfer is excellent, with no blemishes (as befits a brand-new film). Colors are generally muted to match the somber tone of the film, but are vivid where appropriate.

AUDIO: Basic Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. It's well-mixed with a good balance.

EXTRAS: The disc has a respectable assortment of extras. First up is a commentary by director Mennan Yapo (he's German) and star Sandra Bullock. Most of their observations are vapid and forgettable ("I like shooting on location!" "This is a pretty house!"), but there are a few amusing anecdotes sprinkled in. And let's face it: Sandra Bullock is just a fun gal.

The making-of doc is quite standard -- Sandy Bullock was their first choice! Sandy fell in love with the screenplay the moment she read it! -- but there's another doc, "Bringing Order to Chaos" that's very useful. In it, Yapo briefly summarizes the film, rearranging it so that the days occur in proper order. This gives us a feel for how the secondary characters must have thought Bullock's character was losing her mind. Kinda fun.

The gag reel shows the cast and crew as being quite the merry bunch of pranksters. I guess you have to keep your spirits up when you're working on such a downbeat movie.

There are four brief deleted scenes, each of them cut (according to Yapo's optional commentary) for reasons of "pacing." They're all insignificant, as is the "alternate ending," which Yapo admits would have been too ambiguous and wouldn't have worked at all in the film.

Finally, there are two little specials about real-life people who allegedly have premonitions. One of them worked for the CIA years ago, back when they were afraid the Russians were ahead of us in the field of ESP. If you think that sort of stuff is bunk, these specials might make you think again, at least just a little bit.


IN SUMMARY

The DVD treatment is reasonably good, but the movie itself is bland and forgettable. It's worth a rental at best, and probably not even that.

(Note: Most of the "movie review" portion of this article comes from the review I wrote when the movie was released theatrically. I have re-watched it in the course of reviewing the DVD, however.)