HISTORY
CRITICS' UNANIMOUS DECISION:
BREATHTAKING PERFORMANCE BY HALEY JOEL OSMENT!!!
Everyone who sees ''The Sixth Sense'' will come out talking about the kid. The kid is Haley Joel Osment, and he's extraordinary. If this isn't the single best performance ever by a preadolescent male in a motion picture, then it's tied for whatever is first.
Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle
The acting, particularly by Haley Joel Osment who plays the young boy who is the center of the story is exceptional.
Billy Bob Movies for Guys
If you retain nothing else from the paranormal thriller The Sixth Sense (and with a film of this caliber, that's not likely), then remember these three words: Haley Joel Osment. For they're going to be associated with a lot of big things -- things like Oscar nominations, which this phenomenal eleven-year-old actor sorely deserves this year but will not likely get due to the Academy's aversion to horror movies starring Bruce Willis.
11th Hour Magazine Review
Haley Joel Osment is a great kid who pretty much carries the whole movie on his own little shoulders. Where was he when George Lucas was auditioning for STAR WARS: EPISODE I? This kid already has an impressive show biz resume, having played Murphy Brown's baby and Forrest Jr. in FORREST GUMP.
Jim Byerley HBO Review
Go if you like fine acting. Bruce Willis turns over a new leaf in his career here, and Haley Joel Osment should be nominated for an Oscar. Their relationship is heart-warming, magical, and crucial. Go if you like an evocative musical score. And above all, go if you value compassion and tenderness and appreciate how hard life can be on others, especially boys, who do so.
Paul Emmons The Big Screen Cinema Guide
What I got was much, much more, including the best performance in 1999 (to date) by a child actor. Haley Joel Osment’s name should be first in the credits. It’s his movie and he nails an extremely difficult role as a troubled child.
Mark Welch The Big Screen Cinema Guide
I don't think most people expected The Sixth Sense to be such a good mystery as well as a intellectual thriller. I know, I didn't expect it to be as it was. If the boy doesn't get an oscar nomination for best supporting actor it's an outrage! He is sensational! And if you're not willing to spend the $7 to see the best movie of the summer, you're nuts!
Jeff The Big Screen Cinema Guide
The ''Sixth Sense'' is incredible! Haley Osment was so convincing that I imagined myself in his position and never felt more scared. I felt like jumping into the movie myself so I could hold the young boy! He is absolutely breathtaking! If you're the type to walk into the theater without trying to figure everything out, then you'll agree this movie was great from beginning to end. In this sense, I give it a 10!
Angie C. The Big Screen Cinema Guide
Haley Joel Osment is proving himself to be the Lord Olivier of child actors, taking on a deeply challenging emotional role and striking not a single false note.
Jeff Bond E! Online
Young actor Haley Joel Osment (I suspect the ''Joel'' part will be dropped by the time he hits his teens), who plays the child medium, is surprisingly good in this movie. He demonstrates some great acting skills, being equally convincing when he's screaming and crying in terror and when he's seething with dark, pessimistic morbidity. Very impressive. I think he actually out-acted Bruce Willis in the process.
Andrew Manning Movie Review Magazine
Bruce who? Haley Joel Osment makes this movie! Haley, it's Oscar calling!
Bueller Film Link
Despite the fact that I was really rooting for Osment's acting to be totally absurd in this film, he actually does turn in a very strong and believable performance. It becomes immediately apparent that Osment is not the type of child-actor who is willing to get by on frightened looks alone. Osment certainly has the talent and is not afraid to show it, even at the risk of upstaging his older colleagues.
Mike Harvard Reviews
This kid is awesome. I wish this kid would have been cast as Anakin instead of Jake Lloyd. Very very good actor and is definitely someone to look out for in the future.
Jextall Movie World
''Sixth Sense'' is the performance of Haley Joel Osment, the 11-year-old actor with the millennial soul. As Cole Sear, the boy who sees dead people, Osment is a soulful, stricken, solemn presence with the voice of Linus Van Pelt. Normally, these are qualities one doesn't want to see in the child actor; in fact, one rarely wants to see the child actor. This kid is different.
Mark Lepage Montreal Gazette
Haley Joel Osment, in a brilliant piece of acting Osment has the transparency to let us see through his shell and into his very core.
Movies 101
Even better and, considering his age, more astounding is Haley Joel Osment as Cole Sear. His character practically travels through Hell and back here and the young actor is more than up to the task. Osment delivers his lines and feigns the gamut of emotions required here with all the seriousness and gravity and professionalism I'd expect from most of the best actors out there. For God's sake, someone give this kid some kind of award!
Jo Cinema City
I kind of felt sorry for Willis, who couldn't hold his own opposite Osment. Willis is more suited for action pictures and light comedy; here, he is just in over his head. Osment shows promise, but the script doesn't allow him to make the most of his character.
Matt Heffernan FilmHead.com
You never think that he’s just a cute kid in a movie with Bruce Willis; instead, you think that there’s a well-seasoned actor playing a kid who sees dead people up there on the big screen, and after the movie you appreciate his ability to make you forget that he’s only 11 years old.
Robert A. Fulkerson Manley Movie Film Reviews
Haley Joel Osment is surprisingly good. He's still a child actor, but he blows a certain other summer child star who plays a certain Skywalker character out of the water.
The Movie Guru
In addition to Willis, both Collette and young Osment give a standout performances. Osment's Oscar buzz is premature, but he does play the most convincing scared kid I've seen on film.
Wilson Hutton Voices Film Reviews
He (Willis) and young Haley Joel Osment give outstanding performances, especially Osment. In fact, he’s so convincing that I think he deserves an OSCAR nod, maybe even the award itself. Child actors like him, who can really act, are rare these days.
Weekly Movie Review
Haley Joel Osment, his young co-star, is a very good actor in a film where his character possibly has more lines than anyone else. He's in most of the scenes, and he has to act in them--this isn't a role for a cute kid who can stand there and look solemn in reaction shots. There are fairly involved dialogue passages between Willis and Osment that require good timing, reactions and the ability to listen. Osment is more than equal to them.
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times
Back in the 1930s, the Academy gave out small Oscars for the best juvenile performance of the year. (This was before the word juvenile became a pejorative.) It is a shame that this practice has fallen by the wayside, since young Haley Joel Osment (the little boy from BOGUS) would win this year's award hands down for his incredible work as the star of THE SIXTH SENSE.
Steve Rhodes Film Reviews by Steve Rhodes
Haley Joel Osment manages to consummate The Sixth Sense's shocking theme in breathtaking splendor. Every so often, he gives us creepy little glimpses of this corpse-strewn world as it appears through Cole's tormented vision.
Stephen Holden New York Times
Is there a minimum age required for an Oscar nomination? If not, an early suggestion would be Haley Joel Osment for his amazing performance in this film. Osment, is the most talented and credible child actor to grace the good screen in years. His tears of sadness and despair are so frighteningly real it will give you goosebumps.
Jamey Hughton Movie Views
However, the actor who is most memorable here is 11-year-old Haley Joel Osment. Osment turns Cole into a warm and tangible character; he delivers many of his lines in a tired, hushed voice that speaks to his weariness in life, and he never falls into cutesiness to get sympathy. Had Osment not been so good as Cole, ''The Sixth Sense'' could have easy buckled and fallen apart.
James Kendrick Q Network
One of the reasons the movie succeeds is Haley Joel Osment. This experienced young actor seems to have his own special method of making his character believable. When he crawls into the makeshift tent in his room - his refuge filled with stolen holy statues - the horrid nightmares of childhood floood back to us, too. In fact this boy possesses an amazing endurance, hiding the heart of his affliction from his mother, postponing telling his doctor until a moment after the doctor tells his own secrets to the boy. An Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor would not be out of order for Osment.
Mark O'Hara Movie Eye
Osment's tortured bravery is something to see, a wise-beyond-his-years characterization only hinted at by his highly composed Forrest Junior in ''Forrest Gump.''
Steve Schneider Orlando Weekly
Haley Joel Osment is one of the best child actors I have ever seen; this kid is sharp and I expect him to be around for many years to come.
Jay Tierney Moovies.com
The acting in the film is uniformly excellent. Haley Joel Osment, who plays the boy Cole, is the keystone of the film. Even with all its other virtues, the film wouldn't have worked as well as it does without someone of his ability in this role. I don't know if a child actor has ever won an Academy Award, but Osment definitely deserves one.
Kent Johnson San Francisco Chronicle
Osment does an excellent job as the troubled Cole, showing maturity beyond his years - he conveys the terror of his situation without being melodramatic (if only he'd been available for Phantom Menace...). Expect to see a lot more of him in the future.
Movie Thing.com
However the showstealer is Haley Joel Osment who is the first child actor in recent memory to carry a movie with such dramatic convinction. Child actors more often suffer in Maculay Culkin type parts. Osment showcases convinving talent which hopefully will break the curse of child actors and bring forth better roles for child actors.
Humberto M. Ferre The Milkyway Maltshop
This kid is amazing! The one thing I took with me from this movie other than pure joy at the twist at the end was how good of a performance Haley Joel Osment turned in. I look forward to seeing what else he will do in the future, he should have quite a career in store for him.
John Movies for Guys
If there was anything frightening about the film, it was Osment's performance. It is the intensity of his gaze and his soft-spoken, wise words that denote strength and vulnerability at the same time.
Christina Thompson UTK Daily Beacon
At the risk of repeating other critics, the real star of The Sixth Sense is little Haley Joel Osment, a frighteningly talented young actor who is more than up to his unconventionally challenging role. He not only holds his own in talky, complex sequences with Willis, but he outshines his older, more experienced co-star every chance he gets. The movie itself isn't an award contender but Osment's performance should not -- and I expect that it will not -- be forgotten come Oscar time.
Eugene Novikov Ultimate Movies! Review
Individual Reviews:
Haley Joel Osment, one of the only child actors in a while I didn't want to bludgeoned over the head with a blunt instrument. Most of those scenes are with Osment, an 11-year-old actor who's getting rave reviews for his performance, not to mention the early lead in the Best Supporting Actor race. (He's in Sincere Mode too -- in fact, the whole movie is so sinceree it should be expecting a visit from the Great Pumpkin.)
How good is Osment? I would like to take this opportunity to mention that there's a book out there by Orson Scott Card called Lost Boys that I've always wanted to see be made into a movie, and that requires a young child to play a character who may be in touch with the supernatural. (I still think that Jake Lloyd of Star Wars is a better fit for Ender's Game, another Card novel that requires a young protagonist.)
Curtis D. Edmonds
The performances are uniformly excellent, with Haley Joel Osment performance the standout. What showed as a promising debut as a young Forrest in the classic "Forrest Gump", Haley Joel Osment has grown with each performance (most notably the underrated "Bogus", opposite Gerald Depardieu). What young Mr. Osment does in this film is nothing less than extraordinary. With the subtlety of an Olivier, Mr. Osment brings a truth and earnestness to his performance that is infective. Within five minutes of screen time, one believes that this boy does in fact see ghosts. I hereby cast my vote, and urge the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences to set aside a Best Supporting Actor's nod to this young talent. Mr. Osment is more than worthy of it.
R.L. Strong
HALEY WINS 8 AWARDS AND 16 NOMINATIONS WORLDWIDE!!!! HALEY'S ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION NEWS HALEY OSMENT'S CHAMBER LIST OF AWARDS FOR HALEY JOEL OSMENT HALEY JOEL OSMENT AND FRIENDS THE REALM OF THE CITADEL -- Main Hall