Don't Say a Word (2001)

Director:

Gary Fleder

Writers (WGA):

Andrew Klavan (novel)
Anthony Peckham (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

28 September 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

You want what they want, don't you... I'll never tell... any of you.

Plot:

When the daughter of a psychiatrist is kidnapped, he's horrified to discover that the abductors' demand is that he break through to a post traumatic stress disorder suffering young woman who knows a secret...

Plot Keywords:

Psychiatrist | Post Traumatic Stress | Hidden Message | Flashback | Coffin

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Michael Douglas	...	Dr. Nathan R. Conrad
Sean Bean	...	Patrick Koster
Brittany Murphy	...	Elisabeth Burrows
Skye McCole Bartusiak	...	Jessie Conrad
Guy Torry	...	Dolen
Jennifer Esposito	...	Detective Sandra Cassidy
Shawn Doyle	...	Russel Maddox
Victor Argo	...	Sydney Simon
Conrad Goode	...	Max Dunlevy
Paul Schulze	...	Jake
Lance Reddick	...	Arnie
Famke Janssen	...	Aggie Conrad
Oliver Platt	...	Dr. Louis Sachs
Aidan Devine	...	Leon Edward Croft
Alex Campbell	...	Jonathan

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, including some gruesome images, and language.

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA | Australia

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #38497) | Australia:M (TV rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:14A | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Greece:K-13

Filming Locations:

Disused lower platform, Bay subway station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Regency Enterprises

Trivia:

Sean Bean actually spoke to Michael Douglas and Famke Janssen on the cell phones during filming.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Aggie's Apple notebook appears to have its trademark logo on the cover upside down. This is how the G3 PowerBook is designed and is not an error. Starting with the subsequent G4 Powerbook, Apple reversed the logo such that it's upright when the laptop is in use.

Quotes:

Nathan Conrad: Rule number three: no more phone.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Megan Mullally/Clay Aiken (#29.11)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Pride and Joy

I'm Gonna Teh-eh-elll: Very predictable

Ever see a movie for the first time yet still have to ask yourself, "Wait, have I seen this before?" That's pretty much what we're dealing with here. Even if you haven't seen this movie yet, you have.

With "Don't Say a Word," it's like whoever made it was so enthralled by the high-concept, give-it-to-me-in-ten-words-or-less premise, they figured they didn't have to try real hard with anything else. Sure, it's competent. But with its intriguing premise, it should have advanced way past that.

Oh well. It doesn't. Michael Douglas -- who in this film is wearing more make-up than the "women" I see on Santa Monica Blvd. at midnight -- puts in the kind of performance that, if this were an office job, wouldn't get him fired but wouldn't get him promoted. It's more than a drive-by paycheck pick-up, but Douglas has been around long enough to size up a script and know when he should bother trying and when he shouldn't. He goes with choice B here. And it doesn't really matter.

(As a side note, when is the last time Michael Douglas had an on-screen wife within 20 years of his own age? I mean, come on. Do you really think that in real life the man could...oh, wait, never mind.)

As for everything else, Brittany Murphy scores some points for playing a schizophrenic disaster of a girl who you'd still like to nail. Oliver Platt, who is getting fatter faster than Aretha Franklin, shows up for some day player-level acting work. Famke Jannsen looks sexy in a cast, but isn't given much to do. And as for the cop, played by Jennifer Esposito, she is so irrelevant to the plot that she's practically in a different movie altogether.

The plot? If you can't figure out how this movie ends, you're trying even less than whoever wrote it.

Having said all that, it will still kill two free hours just fine. Little ventured, nothing gained.