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80Fleder's forgettable thriller has a convincing edge, and Douglas remains unchallenged as Hollywood's most tremulous and disquieting dad-under-pressure.
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80Smart, stylish and, most important, satisfying.
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75A fairly nifty piece of suspense filmmaking, with a strong if relatively undemanding performance from Douglas.
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70Generates tension from the get-go, albeit of an increasingly unpleasant variety, on its way to a disappointingly generic climax.
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67Murphy's screentime takes a back seat to Douglas', of course, but from that back seat she makes a very big noise.
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67If there's such a thing as joyless competence, it's exemplified by the grimly sensational kidnap thriller Don't Say a Word.
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63The movie as a whole looks and occasionally plays better than it is.
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63Almost nothing new to offer -- despite its good actors, flashy visuals and well-textured New York gloss and grit. But there are teasing hints of another, better movie buried inside somewhere.
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63I left the film wondering where at the Bellevue-like psychiatric facility that schizophrenic teenager obtained such a becoming brick-red lipstick.
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50The movie has promise as a psychological thriller, but the filmmakers show far more interest in chases and shoot-outs than characters and ideas.
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50Until it collapses into a pile of contrivances, Don't Say a Word makes for a serviceable, workmanlike thriller.
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50Heartlessly efficient kidnap thriller.
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50Don't Say a Word can be thought of as a case of Dial B for Boring.
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50This by-the-numbers (no pun intended) psychological thrill ride is efficient and utterly soulless.
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42The movie is just grindingly by-the-numbers: an uninspired brew of all the clichés of the kidnap-thriller genre, liberally seasoned with brutality, stirred at adrenaline-rush speed by a director with a heavy hand and very little imagination.
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40This is nothing more than one more run-of-the-mill, surprise-free, suspense programmer.
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40The oh-so-convenient convergence of plot threads at the climax make the film feel that much more run-of-the-mill.
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40Director Gary Fleder can only fling the camera about and indulge in some familiar screen sadism (and no wonder -- his last feature was "Kiss the Girls") as he tries to squeeze a few thrills from material as desiccated as his leading man.
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38Don't say you weren't warned. There are instant clues that this ill-timed Michael Douglas vehicle is a dually unfortunate viewing experience.
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38Maybe this is a psychological thriller after all: Every thinking member of the audience will be driven insane.
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38A miler trying to run a marathon, a fair middleweight idea trying to deliver heavyweight thrills.
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30You would have to have been born yesterday to miss the switcheroos and reeking red herrings planted in this pulp.
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30Thankfully, after its terrific start, Don't Say a Word transmogrifies so totally into Hollywood hooey that it's actually a relief. I'd hate to see a disturbance in the karmic perfection of Douglas's pitch-pure mediocrity.
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30Amid a rather routine plot and standard cop-show stylings -- just doesn't add up to much entertainment value.
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30This all-day sucker put me to sleep -- though it's possible I retreated out of self-defense.
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25Don't even try to make any sense of this --none of it elicits a moment of genuine concern.
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25Maybe if the story weren't so ludicrous we'd care. Or maybe if the film just went overboard with its ludicrousness, we'd be entertained, but Don't Say a Word is merely boring.
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20Confuses an empty and derivative stylistic bravura with formal cleverness, and a sterile, mechanistic sensationalism with emotional intensity.
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20The movie is a big, noisy mess, with a howler at its center: Overrouged psychiatrist Michael Douglas.
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10A stupid, brutal and nonsensical picture.
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10This noirish, sourish thriller left me unmoving as well as unmoved.
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10The movie isn't exactly providing entertaining escape. In fact, the only escape on your mind is going to be the exit door.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 3 out of 10
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Mixed: 4 out of 10
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Negative: 3 out of 10