Were it not for the fact that Marisa Tomei is one of most undervalued talents in modern film entertainment, and someone who has consistently delivered heartfelt characterizations in the past, I would have skipped "Danika" entirely. The teaser or blurb on the DVD made it out to seem like there was some kind of a psychic element in the plot, and given that "Medium" on NBC has been such a success, I thought that perhaps this film would be a surprise.<br /><br />What was surprising was precisely how bad this movie really is.<br /><br />Frankly, Marisa Tomei is now and has been for a long time, one of the truly luminous beauties in modern films. She's got a subtle way about herself, and a lovely speaking voice. She is expressive but not in a 'femme fatale' kind of way. None of that was put to use in this film from someone's creative Dead Zone.<br /><br />Speaking of the Stephen King novel ( which we weren't, but hey, we should be ), and the film made from that story featuring Martin Sheen and Christopher Walken, there is ample evidence that this theme of trauma-induced precognition can be made believable, intimate, and effective. That is what made "Dead Zone" a four-star success. <br /><br />That wasn't done here. There were plenty of "psychic" elements tossed into a mixer and poured out as a script, but that script started SOMEWHERE interesting and ended up going NOWHERE at a glacial pace.<br /><br />There are three people to blame for this cinematic disaster: the screenwriter who got the credit for this garbled mess of a movie, the director, who was apparently powerless to get script changes, or so totally clueless that he could not see the powerful beginning of a precognition-based plot simply disappearing halfway through it all, and me for wasting my money on this DVD rental.<br /><br />Additionally, the various and sundry persons who got "credits" for being this film's "producers," should be ashamed of wasting however much money this effort cost. Seldom in the history of modern film production have so many good and talented actors and actresses been paid to do a movie that turned out so very badly.<br /><br />Regina Hall was good and the film earned a 2 because of that, and because Marisa Tomei made an obvious effort to interact with Hall in several critical scenes, keeping her 'angst' low-key while Hall's character got a chance to shine.<br /><br />If a meteorite or a comet comes by and burns every copy of "Danika" known, into dust, including the master and the daily rushes ... nobody will complain much, not now and surely not in a hundred years from now. It's that bad. Honest.