Don’t Say A Word

Daughter (Skye McCole Bartusiak) of a high-profile Manhattan psychiatrist (Michael Douglas) is kidnapped from her bed during the early morning hours of Thanksgiving Day. The vile perpetrators of this deed (lead by Golden Eye’s Sean Bean) threaten to harm the girl unless the shrink can pry the location of some stolen diamonds from a heavily medicated teen mental patient (Clueless tomboy Brittany Murphy in a breakout performance). The initial intensity and cleverness of this pop psychology thriller camouflages several creaky plot points and subplots (including the hunt for a serial killer by a relentless female detective) before fading into familiar cat-and-mouse territory and a showdown that embraces Hollywood’s love affair with needless multiple climaxes. Directed by Gary Felder (Kiss the Girls).