REVIEWED - HIDE AND SEEK: There comes a time in the careers of some great actors when they seem to abandon all the discernment and care with which they chose the roles that made them so interesting in the first place. Laurence Olivier and Richard Burton were two classic examples of that malaise, and now, sadly, so is Robert De Niro.

In the 1970s, there was not a screen actor to match De Niro as he stretched his abundant talents in movie after movie - Mean Streets, The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, 1900, The Last Tycoon, New York, New York, The Deer Hunter and Raging Bull. However, from the 12 De Niro movies released since 2000, he has had nothing better to offer than his mugging job in Meet the Parents and its sequel, while he has squandered his ability in such forgettable fodder as Men of Honor, Showtime, City by the Sea, Analyze That, Godsend, and among the voice cast of the animated Rocky & Bullwinkle and Shark Tale.

De Niro merely goes through the motions yet again in this entirely undemanding would-be thriller. It begins on January 1st, at the beginning of a very unhappy new year for the Callaway family. By 2am the next day, Mom (Amy Irving) is lying dead in the bath and her young daughter, Emily (Dakota Fanning, the busiest child actor in movies today), witnesses the bloody aftermath.

Dad (De Niro), a psychologist, decides to take Emily away from their Central Park apartment and all the disturbing memories it holds. They move to a rural area in upstate New York. When a series of nasty events unfolds, Emily blames them on Charlie, a friend who may or may not be imaginary.

"I wanted to write a really scary movie," declares screenwriter Ari Schlossberg in the production notes, and maybe he will someday, even though that that seems highly unlikely on the evidence of his hackneyed and utterly predictable screenplay for Hide and Seek, which offers its capable cast little more than pay packets.