Critic Reviews

Smart, stylish and, most important, satisfying.

Fleder's forgettable thriller has a convincing edge, and Douglas remains unchallenged as Hollywood's most tremulous and disquieting dad-under-pressure.

A fairly nifty piece of suspense filmmaking, with a strong if relatively undemanding performance from Douglas.

Generates tension from the get-go, albeit of an increasingly unpleasant variety, on its way to a disappointingly generic climax.

If there's such a thing as joyless competence, it's exemplified by the grimly sensational kidnap thriller Don't Say a Word.

Murphy's screentime takes a back seat to Douglas', of course, but from that back seat she makes a very big noise.

The movie as a whole looks and occasionally plays better than it is.

I left the film wondering where at the Bellevue-like psychiatric facility that schizophrenic teenager obtained such a becoming brick-red lipstick.

Almost 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.

Don't Say a Word can be thought of as a case of Dial B for Boring.