 …I'll never tell. Michael Douglas is "tremendous" (Tribune News Services) in this psychological thriller "in the classic Hitchcock tradition" (The New York Observer). When the daughter of a prominent New York psychiatrist (Douglas) is kidnapped, his only hope for her safe return is to pry a 6-digit number from the memory of a troubled teenage girl - and time is running out! Storyline: A group of thieves steal a rare gem, but in the process, two of the men double cross the leader of the thieving group, Patrick, and take off with the precious stone. Ten years later, prominent psychiatrist Nathan Conrad is invited to examine a disturbed young woman named Elisabeth. Patrick immediately kidnaps Nathan's daughter, forcing Nathan to attempt to get Elisabeth to reveal a secret number which will ultimately lead Patrick to the whereabouts of the precious gem that has eluded him. Written by Anna Cast Notes: 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), Paul Schulze (Jake), Lance Reddick (Arnie), Famke Janssen (Aggie Conrad), Oliver Platt (Dr. Louis Sachs), Aidan Devine (Leon Edward Croft), Alex Campbell (Jonathan). User Comment: Victor Field London, England • Director Gary Fleder said of "Don't Say A Word" that if you don't care then the movie doesn't have any meaning - which means that this movie basically has no meaning. Harking back to "Ransom" in that it's a tale about kidnapping set in New York which isn't up to much, the basic premise is good and filled with potential - the daughter of a successful psychiatrist is kidnapped by the bad guys and threatened with death if our hero (Michael Douglas) doesn't persuade a mentally disturbed young woman to give up her secret by 5pm that day - but what could have been a good mixture of psychological study and all-out thriller is almost totally thrown away by the director and writers Anthony Peckham and Patrick Smith Kelly (not having read the book I don't know how close it is to the movie, but given that the author Andrew Klavan has a co-producer credit...). The movie plods when it should be moving along, has you holding your head when you should be biting your fingernails, and there are so many nonsensical plot points and missed opportunities that when the movie wants to kick into gear it just doesn't - the screws should be tightening, but instead it's slack for nearly all its length, not helped by Mark Isham's underscore. Basically, when a movie involving a young girl in danger of being killed doesn't hook, and when said movie also involves mental illness, something's wrong. The shame of it all is that the makers have assembled a decent cast, though some of them are put to better use than others (Famke Janssen and Oliver Platt in particular are underused) - Brittany Murphy walks away with the movie as the young woman who's the key to the mystery, and the always-watchable Jennifer Esposito also gives more than she gets as a cop investigating a pair of (seemingly) unrelated murders; both help the movie seem better than it is, not least in a confrontation in the psychiatric hospital and a crucial scene set in a subway. Brittany Murphy fans will find this a must, and it's definitely superior to "Mercury Rising," but those wanting to see a genuinely gripping thriller/character study with Michael Douglas should see "Falling Down." And after this and "GoldenEye," the search for a good movie with both Famke Janssen and Sean Bean continues... Summary: Executive produced, appropriately enough, by a man called Downer. Summary: ...because it was too cheep to pass up. IMDb Rating (02/11/17): 6.3/10 from 41,355 users
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