An entertainment tour de force that thrills as much as it intrigues is sometimes harder to find than a good cup of coffee at McDonald’s.

The combination is not one filmmakers like to advertise for fear of scaring off the lucrative weekend business. But “The Sixth Sense” is, if not actually breaking new ground, offering a little bit of both worlds for film buffs.

“The Sixth Sense” is the story of 8-year-old Cole Sear, played by Haley Joel Osment.

Cole is cursed with the ability to see ghosts who appear to him constantly. He lives his life in fear of the next encounter, but more importantly, in fear of anyone finding out.

He is especially afraid of his mother knowing because she is the only person who doesn’t look at him as if he is a “freak.”

Bruce Willis gives a compelling performance as Dr. Malcolm Crowe, an award-winning clinical psychologist whose task it is to discover what Cole’s trouble is and help him cope with it.

In spite of previews that made “The Sixth Sense” look like a straightforward horror flick, it’s much more complicated than that.

For one thing, the catch phrase from the previews, “I see dead people,” doesn’t even come into play until over an hour after the start of the film.

The audience is not even aware of Cole’s ability for a solid half-hour.

And for most of that time, the audience is unaware of the nature of Cole’s dysfunction.

The natural assumption is that he is messed up over his parent’s divorce.

But this little boy has a lot more on his plate than a little broken home syndrome.

Osment is a brilliant 11-year-old actor who will be doing big things in the future. He doesn’t have any of the Macaulay Culkin, cute-kid qualities that would make him annoying.

His performance is spot on, and a better actor could not have been cast in this role.

Willis has done much to shed his action-hero image over the years. His performance in “Sense” bears none of the “Die Hard” stigma.

Willis doesn’t kick anyone around or throw out banal one-liners in this movie.

He is sympathetic, intelligent and thoughtful. There is not one insincere moment during his performance.

As Crowe, Willis is primarily motivated by the one great failure in his career.

Early in the film, Vincent Gray, played by an emaciated and surprisingly compelling Donnie Wahlberg, confronts Crowe in his home.

He tells Crowe how his failure to help him has ruined his life and made him a freak.

At this point, Crowe decides that he can battle his own demons by helping Cole. Meanwhile, Crowe’s marriage is suffering because of the time required to help the little boy.

Crowe is torn between two worlds.

To abandon Cole means repeating the mistakes of the past and leaving a child on his own to cope with problems that would make an adult lose their water.

During the film’s pivotal “confession,” which appears in previews and commercials (no spoilers here), Cole tells Crowe that he sees dead people all the time.

The film could have fallen apart at this point under the weight of its own unbelievability.

But so much time and effort has gone into laying a solid foundation that suspension of disbelief is easy to maintain.

One never questions the reality of this problem; one becomes intrigued by the manner in which Willis and Osment play their parts.

Imagine “Ordinary People” meets “Poltergeist” minus the effects, throw in a heaping helping of Hitchcock twists and turns and one comes close to capturing this film’s feel.

No matter what preconceived notions you might go into the theater with, you will be surprised.

It is a tribute to the art of writing and directing. If the wool gets pulled over your eyes, it is done cleverly and without contempt.

Few movies make audiences question what they’ve seen and nothing about this film is what it seems.

Expect to be moved and chilled again and again.

4 stars

Ratings based on 5 star scale.

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Greg Jerrett is a graduate student in English from Council Bluffs.