Domestic Disturbance

Starring: John Travolta, Vince Vaughn, Steve Buscemi, Teri Polo
Directed by: Harold Becker
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Thriller
Box Office: $45,246,095
2001

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A young boy witnesses his stepfather (Vince Vaughn) murder someone, and no one will believe him, except his father (John Travolta). Now, as the stakes get higher, the father and stepfather get closer to their eventual showdown.

Review:

Tim: At least John Travolta didn't try to play a bad guy in this film. I'm tired of seeing him screw that up. That being said, his performance as a good guy wasn't all that great, either. I was quite surprised and disappointed that his role wasn't particularly good or effective in the film. I know Travolta can't play a bad guy to save his life (with the exception of Broken Arrow, of course), but I thought he was born to play the good guy roles. Not here, anyway. He stinks.

The film itself isn't all that spectucular. The plot is muddy and drags along, features the old, kid-sees-a-murder-cops-don't-believe-him routine. It isn't that exciting.

Up to this point, the film looks quite bad, doesn't it? Well, it is saved by one thing and one thing only: the performance of Vince Vaughn. Now, this guy is scary as hell. He played Norman Bates in the remake of Psycho, for gawd's sake. You will absolutely hate him in this film. He is such the perfect bad guy that he draws you into the film, wanting to jump in and kick his ass. Now, I don't like Vince Vaughn at all- his roles as psychos are a little to realistic for my blood- however, I have a great deal of respect for his work. He is such an incredible bastard in this movie that you just get pulled into the film, finding yourself enjoying it despite the best efforts of Travolta's shoddy work, and the lack of intelligence in the plot.

This film has flaws, and big ones at that. However, it manages to be quite a chilling and supsenseful film, all thanks to Vaughn. I recommend seeing this film if you beforehand realize it's not that great, save for Vaughn's performance. Knowing that beforehand, I think you'll like the film much better, and agree with me that Vaughn has some strange talent of being such a realistic psychopath that you either want to run screaming from the television, or jump in and kick the crap out of him.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Psycho, Broken Arrow, Phenomenon