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Don't Say a Word (2001)
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Reviews Counted:29
Fresh:9
Rotten:20
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: Don't Say A Word is slick and competently made, but the movie is routine and stretches believability with many eye rolling moments.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for violence, including some gruesome images, and language
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Sep 28, 2001 Wide
Box Office: $54,218,420
Synopsis: When psychiatrist Nathan Conrad discovers that his daughter has been kidnapped, the only way he can get her back is to pry critical information from the mind of a seriously disturbed teenager with... When psychiatrist Nathan Conrad discovers that his daughter has been kidnapped, the only way he can get her back is to pry critical information from the mind of a seriously disturbed teenager with a secret stuck deep in a blocked memory. The Conrads are the prototypical happy family: Nathan, a successful doctor (Michael Douglas); his loving wife, Aggie (Famke Janssen), who is bedridden with a broken leg suffered in a skiing accident; and eight-year-old Jessie (Skye McCole Bartusiak), an extemely intelligent and well-loved young girl. But late one night Jessie is abducted and used as collateral for a dangerous group of men who will stop at nothing to recover a stolen ten-million-dollar jewel. Gary Fleder (KISS THE GIRLS) has crafted an excellent thriller shot on the streets of New York City, getting help from a fine supporting cast, including Oliver Platt as one of Dr. Conrad's medical colleagues, Jennifer Esposito as a cop out to get to the bottom of a series of unexplained murders, and Sean Bean as a violent criminal who will kill anyone who gets in his way. But this is Douglas's movie, starring as a loving family man and dedicated doctor who has to compromise his ethics in order to save his daughter's life and free a teenager from a dangerous psychosis. [More]
Starring: Michael Douglas, Sean Bean, Brittany Murphy, Famke Janssen
Starring: Michael Douglas, Sean Bean, Brittany Murphy, Famke Janssen, Oliver Platt, Jennifer Esposito, Skye McCole Bartusiak
Director: Gary Fleder
Director: Gary Fleder
Screenwriter: Anthony Peckham, Patrick Smith Kelly
Producer: Arnon Milchan, Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Composer: Mark Isham, Graeme Revell
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Reviews for Don't Say a Word
In the place of consistent psychological tension, we are saddled with shoot-outs, chases, and fight scenes.
As an odyssey of paternal qualm, Fleder's forgettable thriller has a convincing edge, and Douglas remains unchallenged as Hollywood's most tremulous and disquieting dad-under-pressure.
A well-crafted thriller that breaks no new ground but is an exciting diversion with plausible twists of logic and an exciting climax.
Every bit as predictable, shopworn and unappetizing as its premise suggests.
It all gets back to that suspension of disbelief. Are you willing to make the leap?
Tight enough, preposterous enough and slick enough to keep bathroom traffic to a minimum. It is, in other words, the very definition of a good home rental.
With all the convolutions, this is still the kind of ho-hum movie that will allow you to catch up on your bill paying when you finally catch it on HBO.
This is one of those many movies where there's nothing terribly wrong, and yet it still never feels even remotely right.
Don't Say a Word is a potboiler, but one that comes with all the trimmings.
Its story seems merely an excuse for its all-too- familiar recycling of suspense-movie ideas.
The technical credits are good, but its producers should have trusted the audience more and messed less with the book.
The problem faced by Don't Say a Word is that it's hard to care about characters who make cardboard look complex and multifaceted.
Latest News for Don't Say a Word
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