Nov. 13, 2001 – It seems that the biggest draw of "Domestic Disturbance" is John Travolta, not for an outstanding performance — critics say it's adequate — but because he's John Travolta. So if you're not a John Travolta fan, consider other options.
The movie is promoted as a thriller, and for some film fans, that's reason enough to spring for a ticket. However, reviewers have dubbed it a "thrill-free thriller," "replacing suspense with formula," with a plot that's trite and an ending that's predictable — in short, "a generic thriller that grows more conventional by the minute."
And that plot is… Susan (Teri Polo), a divorced mother with an 11-year-old son, Danny (Matthew O'Leary), falls in love with Rick (Vince Vaughn), a.k.a. Mr. Right No. 2, and they get married. Only there's a lot that's wrong with Mr. Right, as the kid is the first in the family to find out after an uninvited guest from Rick's not-so-perfect past shows up at the wedding and in short order is dispatched.
Once Rick realizes Danny knows what he's done, he terrorizes the boy to keep him quiet. Danny tries to get help, but for some reason only his divorced dad, Frank (Travolta), a down-and-out boat builder, will take him seriously. Dad then dons his hero's hat and sets out to rescue the lad and his former lady from a life-and-death situation.
One critic finds Frank's character "almost too much of a good guy," while the audience is supposed to accept Rick as the bad guy-turned-upstanding-citizen with hardly any character development. And Susan is hard to believe as a concerned mother after she marries a guy she hardly knows.
A couple of reviewers describe "Domestic Disturbance" as a "made-for-TV-movie," and they don't mean that as a compliment, one commenting that "you wonder throughout why you can't use a remote to find a decent ball game." But other critics found that it does have some redeeming values, such as "enough tension and suspense to make it entertaining, even when using old tricks like unexpectedly seeing the villain's reflection in a mirror."
The movie is rated PG-13. It's playing at Market Square East on St. Thomas and at Sunny Isle Theaters on St. Croix.
