Domestic Disturbance: Movie, DVD Review

Directed by Harold Becker, written by Lewis Colick, 88 minutes, ated PG-13

(Originally published 2001)

Harold Becker's "Domestic Disturbance" is like an old circus animal, one that's performed its tricks so many times, it can barely muster the strength to perform them again.

The film, from a script by Lewis Colick, stars John Travolta as Frank Morrison, a divorced, recovering alcoholic who learns his family's third-generation boat building business is about to go belly up just as his ex-wife, Susan (Teri Polo), is set to marry the local stud, Rick Barnes (Vince Vaughn).

What's remarkable about Frank is that neither of these events seem to phase him. He's so complacent and emotionally removed, so absurdly mild-mannered and detached, he seems less like a man facing a turning point in his life than he does a pod person who just stepped off the mother ship.

Grounding him is his teen-age son, Danny (Matt O'Leary), a troubled liar who wants his parents back together so badly, nobody believes him when he claims he witnessed Rick brutally murder a man.

Is Danny crying wolf? Or could it be that he really did see Rick stab his former business associate, Ray (Steve Buscemi), before roasting him in a brick oven?

As the film moves toward its rushed ending, "Domestic Disturbance" occasionally simmers, but it drops so many clues and telegraphs so many scenes along the way, it also suggests that Becker would rather play it safe than shake up a genre that badly needs to be invigorated.

Grade: C