Don't Say a Word (2001)

Gary Fleder's Don't Say A Word is a slightly topical and generic thriller that slickly goes through the motions to give us a result that is entertaining, if nothing special. The late Brittany Murphy plays Elizabeth, a disturbed young girl who resides in a psychiatric facility, haunted by a violent past trauma, unable to cope or communicate. A decade earlier, she witnessed her father brutally murdered by a group of jewel thieves, bent on finding out the location of a priceless gem he hid somewhere. Michael Douglas plays Nathan Conrad, the psychiatrist tasked with unlocking the secrets of Elizabeth's mind. The trouble arises when Patrick Koster (Sean Bean), leader of the thieves, catches on and promptly kidnaps Conrad's daughter (Sky McCole, RIP) as leverage to find the whereabouts of the jewel. A tense game of cat, mouse and killer ensues as Bean's crew basically terrorizes Douglas's family. Murphy gives the best performance as the damaged teenager fighting tooth and nail to suppress the horror of times past. Douglas makes a solid protagonist and desperate father, struggling to protect his daughter and wife (Famke Janssen) whilst in the midst of crisis. Bean carries the villain role nicely, never moustache twirling yet maintaining the menace terrifically and holding his end up. There's supporting work from Oliver Platt, David Warshofsky, Victor Argo, Jennifer Esposito, Shawn Doyle and Aiden Devine as well. It's standard thriller territory, helped nicely by its cast and given an extra shot of quality by Brittany Murphy's superb work.

It's not a bad movie at all, a decent thriller in many ways. However the female detective's character is well annoying, aggravatingly annoying. She has total blinders on and cares only about solving her one case. Her reactions to things make very little sense. It's what kept me from thoroughly enjoying the movie but despite that it's worth a watch.The story is decent, not very original fairly predictable (although my standards of predictable are vastly different from most people so maybe you'll be surprised) and there are some very good performances by Brittany Murphy, Michael Douglas, Sean Bean and Famke Janssen and Oliver Platt.

A sad, unfortunate fact about this movie is that the 2 young female stars Brittany Murphy and Skye McCole Bartusiak (who plays the daughter of Michael Douglas) both died in a young age.Anyway, this is a conventional thriller, nothing extraordinary. Although the critics hated it, it manage to become a commercial success doubling its budget in box office.The plot is flimsy and fragile: The daughter of a psychiatrist is kidnapped, and her kidnappers want from his to "extract" a secret from a young woman who is imprisoned in a mental institution, that could lead them to a valuable object they tried to stole some years ago.It starts slow but soon some action picks-up but it becomes exaggerated and coincidental maybe even absurd.Michael Douglas does what he cans to save the movie but doesn't seem enough.Overall: If you can catch it on TV watch it, but never think of paying a single dollar/euro/whatever for it.

Well-trussed New York psychiatrist Michael Douglas (as Nathan Conrad) finds his world unraveling, after cute 8-year-old daughter Skye McCole Bartusiak (as Jessie) is kidnapped by psychotic Sean Bean (as Patrick Koster). For ransom, the crooked Mr. Bean wants Mr. Douglas to pry a six-digit number from the disturbed mind of squirrelly patient Brittany Murphy (as Elisabeth Burrows). Douglas wife Famke Jansen (as Aggie) worries from home, due to a broken leg. Somehow, Jennifer Esposito (as Sandra Cassidy) gets herself involved. The film's title advises "Don't Say a Word," when actually, there isn't much to tell. Ms. Murphy is most memorable.***** Don't Say a Word (9/24/01) Gary Fleder ~ Michael Douglas, Brittany Murphy, Sean Bean, Famke Janssen