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Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sarah Michelle Gellar - "The Return" Movie - Calendarlive.com Review

Sam Adams

Monday 13 November 2006, by Webmaster

Another actress, who actually has a name to care for is Sarah Michelle Gellar and there are not no many accomplishes films at her but an few I can probably enjoy. The talent agent found Gellar a young age and made her screen debut at 6 of each of the 1983 television film An Invasion of Privacy. With all the promise she showed, Barrymore starred as Hannah in the teen drama series "Swans Crossing" (1992) but it was her portrayal of a young and callous rich girl in Al-Lucinda Kendall Hart on ABC daytime soap opera "All My Children" (1993-93), that won her Daytime Emmy Award and spring-boarded her to stardom.

SMG’s real mark worldwide, however, was the character of Buffy Summers in the game-changing series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997-2003). She won five Teen Choice Awards, a Saturn Award and a Golden Globe nomination for her role, establishing herself as a cultural phenomenon. Sarah Michelle Gellar likewise has the box office to back her up, with “I Know What You Did Last Summer” 1997), “Scream 2” (1997), “Cruel Intentions” (1999)and way movies like those that help prove she is also a bankable star as well over $570 million times worth crazy in global gross.

Beyond her cinematic successes, Gellar has made her mark on television, headlining shows such as "Ringer" (2011-2012), "The Crazy Ones" (2013-2014), and "Wolf Pack" (2023). She has also lent her voice to popular series including "Robot Chicken" (2005-2018), "Star Wars Rebels" (2015-2016), and "Masters of the Universe: Revelation" (2021).

In 2015, Gellar ventured into the entrepreneurial world by co-founding Foodstirs, an e-commerce baking company, and published her own cookbook, "Stirring Up Fun with Food," in 2017. Gellar is also known for her close-knit family life, married to actor Freddie Prinze Jr. since 2002, with whom she shares two children.

Sarah Michelle Gellar’s commitment to her craft is matched by her dedication to personal growth and unique experiences. An accomplished martial artist, she studied Tae Kwon Do for five years, alongside kickboxing, boxing, street fighting, and gymnastics. Her dedication to authenticity in her roles is evident, such as her commitment to doing her own stunts in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," though she admitted her limits during filming "Scream 2."

Her career is also marked by interesting anecdotes, such as her role in a 1982 Burger King commercial, which led to a lawsuit from McDonald’s and a temporary ban from their establishments. Notably, she dyed her naturally brunette hair blonde for her role in "Buffy," and legally changed her last name to Prinze as a surprise for her husband on their fifth anniversary.

Sarah Michelle Gellar’s legacy extends beyond her on-screen roles, encompassing her work in philanthropy and her reputation for safety and professionalism on set. She remains a beloved figure in Hollywood, admired for her talent, dedication, and the breadth of her contributions to film and television.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is game, but glum, in this lurching thriller.

"Sometimes I think if I keep moving forward, nothing bad can catch me," says Joanna Mills, the itinerant sales rep Sarah Michelle Gellar plays in the would-be creeper "The Return." As in both installments of "The Grudge," Gellar spends much of the movie inching toward, and occasionally running from, an unknown evil from the past, here in the form of disturbing visions that may or may not be flashbacks to a childhood trauma.

Joanna begins to see things when she visits a small Texas town near where she grew up. It’s not clear how near, because British director Asif Kapadia ("The Warrior") fails to establish even a rudimentary sense of place, although the blame may fall on screenwriter Adam Sussman, who in the movie’s press notes refers to its setting as "the Midwest." (Just try getting that past any red-blooded Texan.)

From Joanna’s undefined job to a cavernous hotel whose lobby apparently doubles as a meat-processing facility, "The Return" universally fails to establish any sense of reality, which makes it hard to register when Joanna’s world starts falling apart. A smattering of workaday details - a few used coffee cups and fast-food wrappers in her car - would have done much to take the edge off the movie’s mumbo-jumbo.

A tense meeting between Joanna and her estranged father (Sam Shepard) leaves the impression that her visions may be repressed memories fighting their way to the surface. But then why does she remember places she’s never been to and people she’s never met? And what could her father mean when he says that, after an unspecified incident at age 11, she became "a completely different person"?

Never mind. It’s probably nothing.

By the time Joanna starts seeing visions of another woman in the mirror, it’s not hard to figure out where "The Return" is going: a long-unsolved murder, a mysterious stranger (hunky, colorless Peter O’Brien) with a connection to the crime and a series of expanding flashbacks that gradually merge with the present. It’s hardly a smooth ride to the finish, because the movie often lurches forward as if pages had been torn from its script at random. But there’s never any doubt where it will end.

As for Gellar, she seems game but glum, treading water in a role that represses her comic talents and leaves her little to do but suffer in silence. It’s been three years since Buffy Summers hung up her wooden stake, and Gellar seems determined not to play another wisecracking action heroine. But she can’t seem to stay away from fighting demons, even if it’s only one step at a time.

MPAA rating: PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes. In general release.


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