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'Don't Say a Word' a bad rollercoaster worthy of two-and-a-half stars By
Bryce Casselman There are two kinds of moviegoers. There are those who carefully select the movies they want to see by way of movie previews, books, interest in actors and word of mouth. These people are all right with waiting a while until the movie is passed down to a lower-priced theater or until the movie goes to video or DVD. The other kind of moviegoer is the person who pays full price for a movie, regardless of who is in it and whether her or she knows a lot about the movie. These people have to have popcorn and a drink to accompany them on their two-hour journey and get a little giddy at the moment the movie previews end and the movie begins. These are the people who stay in their seat until all the credits are over and the lights come on, not because they are necking with their girlfriend, but because they don't want to let go of the experience. As a movie reviewer, by nature, I am the latter. But, because of this, I have to remember to subtract much of the movie theater experience in order to give the most objective review possible. So as I stand back from the smell of popcorn and the darkened room of the theater, Don't Say a Word, the latest movie by director Gary Fledor (Kiss the Girls), is suspenseful and well-acted, but is unable to deliver many of the things promised in the film. Let me explain. The movie begins with a flawless bank robbery, setting you up to believe that the bad guys in the film are brilliant, or at least pretty smart, but as the film progresses, they lose and repeatedly fail to get the very gem back that they stole in the first place. Also, at the beginning of the movie Dr. Nathan Conrad, played by Michael Douglas, a successful psychiatrist, is asked to speak with Elisabeth Burrows, played by Brittany Murphy (Girl Interrupted), an enigmatic, mentally ill patient who has been through dozens of doctors with the same number of diagnoses. During his visit, Burrows, lying on a bed and moving her hands across the tiled wall next to her, speaks for the first time in months, saying, "You want what they want," but then finishes her statement in a soft, creepy voice, "I'll never tell." It is later learned that Burrows knows a six-digit number that will lead the jewel thieves to their prize and that Conrad's daughter is kidnapped and will die if he is unsuccessful in retrieving the number. The major flaw in the story line come in the form of a great premise crammed into a 24-hour period. Although the plot tries to make up for Conrad's ability to move quickly to strip away the layers of Burrow's mental illness, "I'll never tell" turns into "OK, maybe I'll tell you today." In all, this movie is a lot like a not-so-great roller coaster -- although it is exhilarating and suspenseful at times, for the most part it just moves too fast and leaves you unfulfilled when it's over.
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