Domestic Disturbance Review
by Harvey S. Karten (film_critic AT compuserve DOT com)November 5th, 2001
DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE
Reviewed by Harvey Karten
Paramount Pictures
Director: Harold Becker
Writer: Lewis Colick (story), William S. Comanor
Cast: John Travolta, Vince Vaughn, Teri Polo, Matthew O'Leary, Steve Buscemi, Chris Ellis, Nick Loren
Screened at: Loews E-walk, NYC, 10/30/01
If you were married to a teddy bear of a guy like Frank Morrison (John Travolta), would you throw him over for a slimebucket like Rick Barnes (Vince Vaughn)--especially if you knew that Mr. Vaughn almost always plays the villain? This is the first bit of illogical hokum in Harold Becker's "Domestic Disturbance," a thriller which despite its plot holes and predictable outcome still provides plenty of tingles and tremors throughout thanks largely to some to notch acting all around including all the fun provided consistently by Steve Buscemi--who plays the hapless but friendly victim, Ray Coleman.
Sharply photographed in Wilmington, North Carolina by Michael Seresin, Becker's movie based on a story by Lewis Colick adapted to the screen by William S. Comanor has a theme that families seem increasingly to have to deal with as the divorce rate goes through the roof in America but seems not to damper the desire for remarriage: What sorts of tensions are generated by a grown child who will most likely resent his mother for hitching up with a stranger, and how will the new stepdaddy take to sharing his beloved with a strange kid? In this case the 12-year-old Danny (Matthew O'Leary), who looks as though he were cloned from the Culkins, is the sort who could well be considered a brat by the new man in the house--though his mischievous behavior can be traced to the tensions he undergoes because of the new living arrangements. He is a chronic liar, telling fibs to his mom, Susan (Teri Polo) and his stepdad and even to the police--who pick him up for truancy--but never to the father whom he loves and seems midway in the story to betray.
When Danny hides on the back seat floor of Rick's van, he witnesses the murder of Ray Coleman by Rick in a dispute about some money owed by Rick from a racket for which Ray was imprisoned. Rick is not the person he seems to be. When the kid reveals what he knows to the police, his dad and his mom, he is treated unfortunately like the boy who cried wolf. No one believes him except Frank. The mounting tension comes from the threats conveyed verbally and physically by the wicked stepfather to the son he never particularly wanted, and the increasing rift between Frank and Rick--which is thought by Susan, understandably enough, to be nothing more than the Frank's envy toward the her new husband.
Despite editor Peter Honess' botched up fight toward the conclusion of the brief tale (just under an hour and a half), superlative acting and crisp photography make "Domestic Disturbance" a reasonably high-excitement and worthwhile
tittilator.
Rated PG-13. Running time: 106 minutes. (C) 2001 by Harvey Karten, [email protected]
More on 'Domestic Disturbance'...
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
