The Uninvited: Why have you forsaken me David Strathairn?

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of The Uninvited, is what the hell are you doing with your life David Strathairn? If you have no idea who I'm talking about, then please let me enlighten you. He's a wonderful character actor who has seemed to blend into the background and go un-noticed for many years. Until in 2005 when he was nominated for Best Actor in a leading role for playing Edward R. Murrow in "Good Night, and Good Luck". Usually getting nominated will jump start or at least playfully nudge along an actor's career. Although here we are David Strathairn, you, me, and The Uninvited. Where he plays a supporting role as a father to a troubled daughter Anna (Emily Browning) who comes back home from a mental hospital. The reason she was in the hospital? A suicide attempt caused by depression caused by watching her ill mother get exploded in the guest house/hospital room of their horribly expensive looking country home. She comes back to find that her father is diddling her mother's former hospice nurse Rachael (Elizabeth Banks) whom the audience automatically points the finger at as the person responsible for Anna's mother's death. And why wouldn't we? She's blonde, perky, and has no reason to be sexually attracted to David Strathairn. In fact the only person Anna can trust is her older sister Alex (Airelle Kebbel) who is by far the worst actress in the film. Her angst ridden lines seem so robotic that I could have put R2D2 in a tube top and gotten a better performance. Anyway, Anna starts to see weird visions of dead children and other creepy things that pop out about every 5 to 10 minutes like clockwork. All of the pieces to the puzzle seem uninteresting and uninspired. Until the end where there is a genuine twist that I myself did not see coming. If this movie had come out 10 years ago before The Sixth Sense, it could have been a blockbuster of epic proportions. But here we are. With the ending being quite good, it still doesn't excuse the dragging middle points that only exist until the finale. All of that pales in comparison to the absolute waste of a talented actor such as Strathairn. That's right, I'm back to this point again. There are so many more capable actors who could have filled the role of dull unimportant father. Although I can't fault a man for just wanting to pick up a paycheck while they fake bang Elizabeth Banks. Actually, when I think about it in those terms, David Strathairn may be smarter than us all.