Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageDon't Say a Word (2001)
Director: Gary Fleder
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Douglas is a dish best served cold. Irritation, contempt and fake bonhomie are the emotions that make his clownish face gripping. Tragically, as uptown psychiatrist Nathan Conrad in this noisy New York thriller, he's in cosy mode - the doting husband and father thrown into turmoil when a downtown colleague asks for help with a disturbed and apparently catatonic teen, Elizabeth (Murphy). What Nathan doesn't know is that jewel thieves, done out of their booty ten years before, also need Elizabeth to open up - she's got a vital number trapped inside her head. And when these Desperate Dans kidnap Nathan's daughter, he's forced to start picking the vulnerable girl's brain. Meanwhile, stroppy cop Sandra Cassidy (Esposito) knows there's something fishy here. Sandra is the film's only plausible presence and she's hardly in it. Far more time is spent with the dough-faced Murphy, usually excellent, but here caught in a 24-hour pout vortex and forced to sing Ophelia-like ditties. Janssen also gets too much exposure as Nathan's wife. As for Bean - the requisite British nasty - he makes Vinnie Jones look subtle. And Douglas? Well, he's the smug liberal to the last.Author: CO'Su
Cast & crew
Director: Gary Fleder
Producer: Arnon Milchan, Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Cast: Michael Douglas, Sean Bean, Brittany Murphy, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Guy Torry, Jennifer Esposito, Shawn Doyle, Victor Argo, Famke Janssen full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 113 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now