All buildup, no payoff in disappointing psychological thriller

“Abandon” is a trite psychological thriller designed to keep the audience guessing and guessing -- which is not to be confused with suspecting -- until it comes time to wrap things up and send the viewers home. The trouble with this well-worn approach to suspense is that all the while the filmmakers are upping the ante for themselves, generating expectations that they can’t deliver on.

That’s what has happened to writer Stephen Gaghan, an Oscar winner for his crackling “Traffic” script making his directorial debut here. “Abandon” is all buildup and no payoff, a mystery that essentially offers only two alternative solutions, which diminishes the element of surprise and strings the viewer along way past caring which possibility proves to be true.

Agatha Christie always gave us myriad possibilities for solving a crime; Alfred Hitchcock said that true suspense is generated by letting the audience in on what’s up and keeping the protagonists in the dark and in increasing peril. Either approach of these masters of suspense could have better set off this film’s portrait of a young woman, Katie Burke (Katie Holmes), a college senior under pressure to wrap up her thesis and prepare for finals while vying for a big-time job in the world of high finance.

Not helping matters is that she is contacted by police Detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt) about a renewed investigation of the disappearance of her wealthy boyfriend, Embry Larkin (Charlie Hunnam, the underage gay in the original English version of “Queer as Folk.”) two years earlier.

On the surface Katie would seem to be the girl who has it all -- and all under control: looks, personality, intelligence and drive, but she is an up-by-her-bootstraps individual who has struggled hard to better herself and her opportunities. A tall, tousled blond and a brilliant iconoclast in the arts, Embry swept Katie off her feet only to let her down with a thud when he disappeared. Never knowing whether he met foul play or merely dropped out, Katie, who has not since dated, pulled herself together by pouring all her energies into her studies and pursuing career goals.

Now, at the worst possible moment, she is flooded with painful memories. Then she begins to catch glimpses of Embry back on campus: Has he actually reappeared or is he but a figment of Katie’s imagination? In the meantime considerable empathy gradually develops between Katie and Wade, who is getting a second chance at his police career after having been derailed by what he calls “extreme substance abuse.”

Amid a flurry of fast forwards and flashbacks, “Abandon” proves to be more contrived than inspired and therefore unable to make fresh its venerable men-are-such-beasts sentiments. However, Holmes, a “Dawson’s Creek” regular with a burgeoning big-screen career, shows she can handle a large, demanding part. The droll Zooey Deschanel lends a welcome light touch, but the film does Bratt no favors. Having turned in an electrifying, Oscar-caliber performance in “Pinero,” he would be well-advised to avoid sketchy supporting roles like Handler.

*

‘Abandon’

MPAA-rated: PG-13, for drug and alcohol content, sexuality, some violence and language. Times guidelines: The film’s situations are too dark and intense for younger audiences.

A Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment presentation of a Lynda Obst production. Writer-director Stephen Gaghan. Suggested by the book “Adam’s Fall” by Sean Desmond. Producers Obst, Edward Zwick, Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber. Executive producer Richard Vane. Cinematographer Matthew Libatique. Editor Mark Werner. Music Clint Mansell. Costumes Louise Frogley. Production designer Gideon Ponte. Art director Pierre Perrault. Key set decorator Anne Galea. Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes.

Katie Holmes...Katie Burke

Benjamin Bratt...Wade Handler

Charlie Hunnam...Embry Larkin

Zooey Deschanel...Samantha Harper