If a "suspense" filmed was played in the woods, and it didn't actually contain any suspense, would a bear watch it?

The previous sentence makes about as much suspense as the reason behind making "Domestic Disturbance", the newest `thriller' starring John Travolta, Vince Vaughn and Teri Polo.

Let's talk for a few minutes about Mr. Travolta. Can anyone name an actor who has received more chances in his career and squandered them? I think that Travolta has now surpassed Richard Dreyfuss as the comeback/ lose it again king. After a brilliant comeback engineered by his longtime admirer Quentin Tarantino in "Pulp Fiction", Travolta appeared in a number of films that were interesting and proved interesting choices. "Face/Off" and "Broken Arrow" highlighted a string of hits that ultimately allowed Travolta to join the $20 million club. In the last few years, every film Travolta has appeared in has failed miserably. "Lucky Numbers"? "The General's Daughter"? That film was a hit but can anyone even remember one significant scene from it? "Swordfish"? Interesting, but a flop. "Battlefield Earth"? Why does he keep making this trash? It has to be the paychecks. I can't see any other conceivable reason. John, baby, how long before the studios realize that these films aren't making any money and they stop hiring you? John, baby, how long before you need another comeback vehicle?

Frank Morrison (John Travolta) is a divorced father who makes wooden boats. He doesn't get a lot of business, but the business that he does get gets a great deal. He doesn't charge his customers enough to make a profit. Frank does this because HE IS THE GOOD GUY. His son, Danny (Matthew O'Leary) has a lot of problems accepting his mom's (Teri Polo) new relationship with Rick Barnes (Vince Vaughn). He gets into a lot of trouble and lies to everyone. A couple of days after his mom and Rick get married, he stows away in Rick's car and witnesses him murdering a business associate. The police don't believe him however. After a little soul searching, Frank believes his son. He may lie to everyone, but he doesn't lie to Frank.

Directed by Harold Becker ("Sea of Love"), "Domestic Disturbance" is a suspense film without any suspense. From the moment Danny stows away in Rick's car and WATCHES HIM MURDER Ray (Steve Buscemi), which we also watch, we know who the good guy is and who the bad guy is. To make matters worse, Frank instantly believes his son, which means that the film boils down to a cat and mouse game between Frank and Rick. A boring cat and mouse game. When you know the identity of the villain, a huge percentage of the suspense is flushed down the toilet. When Frank believes Danny early on, the rest of the suspense is flushed down with it.

The film would've been greatly improved by showing Danny in the backseat of the car, watching everything, the pain and suspense registering on his face, while the audience sees nothing. Then, when Danny tries to convince his dad, the police chief, his mom, that Rick is a murderer, at least we haven't seen the act, and we would require some convincing as well.

Because the filmmakers chose to show us everything, the next logical step to provide some suspense would be to have Frank doubt Danny, his son. However, after a very brief segment, Frank believes Danny, causing us to watch a battle between Frank and Rick, which isn't very interesting.

Each of the actors, including Travolta, are serviceable in their roles, but because the film robs us of just about everything in the first fifteen minutes, the remaining ninety become an exercise in tedium.

Skip "Domestic Disturbance". It isn't even worthy of a video rental. Go to see the far superior and very different "Amelie" or "The Man Who Wasn't There". Your money will be much better spent.

Domestic Disturbance is a typical Hollywood film. The story, characters, and even the camerawork all seem prefabricated and recycled. The language that Travolta and Vaughn spurt from their mouths even feels repetitive. Do you know why? Because we have seen it all before. This film did not scare me, did not entice me, or even excite me in anyway because of the resemblance this had to every other film of this genre. It is the classic story of the boy that cried wolf too many times and eventually everyone never believed him. It is the classic story of the strength of a father that believes that when life throws lemons, that he must make lemonade. It is the classic story of the family struggle to survive against all odds. It is nothing fresh, it is nothing new, it is nothing remarkable. It is Hollywood, in its purest form. Audiences paid money to see this recycled film and for that I think we should all be issued an apology from the Hollywood community.

I even have the subtle feeling that everyone involved in this project felt the same way. Travolta and Vaughn are laughable in their roles. The child actor was acting, and you could tell every time he was on screen. The only "fun" character in this entire production was Steve Buscemi, who continually plays this slippery sneaky fishy looking character that just gets under your skin the wrong way. He was perfect, I only wish I could say the same for everyone else. Perhaps it is my newer images of Vaughn that hurt him in this role. After seeing the comedy duds like Dodgeball and Starsky & Hutch, I couldn't help but think that Vaughn was trying to play a bit of comedy into this role as well. He just didn't seem to fit. His eyes needed to see evil, when in fact they saw nothing more than the cue cards reminding him of his lines. I kept waiting to hear him say something to Travolta about "Vegas Baby, Vegas", but alas, it never occurred. I felt similar about Travolta's role in this film. His character suffered from lack of solidity. I never felt that he was a strong father. I knew he could build boats, but fight evil I just couldn't see it. I also had trouble seeing the father/son dynamic. During the scenes that him and O'Leary share, I continually felt that they were acting their parts, not building the characters. It was sad, and only left me with a weak impression of them when the climax occurred. Teri Polo was shallow, really contributing nothing to the story other than the classic role of mother who will not believe, while child actor Matt O'Leary definatly needed more time with an acting coach before landing this role. All of these paid actors were going through their parts, but not into their characters, which ultimately flawed the film.

What happens when you have actors not reaching their potential and a story that seems like it could be a "Made-for-TV-Movie"? You get the film Domestic Disturbance. The story was horrible. Father who loves his son, who cannot let go of a previous life (although it seemed that in the film Travolta and Polo were ok with there divorce), who doesn't trust his ex-wife's new beau. This seemed like a very troubled man instead of the hero that he portrayed. I also felt that this story really didn't give any credit to the local police. Instead of investigating, it seemed like they were just sitting around. That was Travolta's tax dollars at work, but instead he ended up doing all the work. It reminded me of the times that I have to bag my own groceries at the story. Am I not paying for the goods so that they can provide baggers? Ah well. From the opening scene of this film until the unclimactic ending (which made me chuckle due to the lack of sympathy), it was nothing more than Hollywood fluff. Travolta had been making a strong return to the film industry prior to this project, and I wish that somebody had talked him out of it. This film was filler, and plenty of people got paid for some shoddy workmanship.

Overall, I was very disappointed with this film. In fact, I was more than disappointed, I was appalled. This had no redeeming value to it (outside of Buscemi) and it continually perplexed me as to why it was made. There was no stretching of anyone's acting ability, nor did I ever really see the power family structure that was so important to the characters. What I saw was an angry father upset about the path his life has taken, and decides to do something about it using his son's lies as a crutch. Perhaps I needed Vaughn's character to be darker, or maybe more boats built to help me understand Travolta's role, but something needed to happen and it didn't. This was a sad excuse of a film, and I do not recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the cinema.

Grade: ** out of *****

DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE is a by the book, easy to predict potboiler, but one directed with sharp verve by Harold Becker and given a boost by the performance of Matthew O'Leary as young Danny. O'Leary went on to show his incredible range in FRAILTY, but in this movie, he brings his doe-eyed innocence and fervent fear to form the core of the movie. John Travolta does well as Danny's father, although he sometimes seems overburdened with trying not to act like Pulp Fiction; Vince Vaughn is appropriately menacing as the wicked new stepfather, but we never really understand his motivation for marrying Polo in the first place. Steve Buscemi shows up in his usual seedy bad guy role, but doesn't get much of a chance to do anything with it.
This is an entertaining movie, and works because it attacks our primal fear of something happening to our kids. It's to O'Leary's credit that it works so well.

Yeah, I'll admit that I watched this disc with very little in the way of hope or expectations but an hour and a half later I was pleasantly surprised at this little thriller. While this film's foundation is comprised of typical 'B-movie' elements the film certainly over-achieves by way of Harold Becker's taut direction and Travolta and Vince Vaughn's excellent performances making this a better thriller then it deserved to be.

As far as overall disc production goes, the video transfer is average at best while the 5.1 Dolby is slightly better. Extras are skimpy as well with a commentary track by Becker, a handful of deleted scenes and a few storyboard examples. Is the disc ultimately worth your purchase? Probably not - but certainly worth your rental dollar should you find yourself craving a well done b-movie thriller.

I really like this movie. Granted, it's a little predictable, and in places maybe Travolta seems a little flat. It has a few other flaws as well. But there are a lot of reasons to like a movie and sometimes you have to make allowences.
What works about it? Matthew O'Leary and Vince Vaughn; the helpless kid & the bad guy. As the movie progresses, the kid gets more and more loveable and the evil dude becomes ever more despicable. Everything you need for this type of movie to be successful; a couple of very good actors in the right roles, convincingly earning, in this case, our sympathy or our bile. Even if the movie holds up in no other way for you, these two actors are sure to do their part. Settings, production, background, or script aside, these two deliver.
Predictable? Somewhat, sure. How many movies aren't? As for Trovolta perhaps being a little off, hey, the man is very busy. Besides, he was supposed to be low-key in this role, the emphasis of the movie being his son's plight. I think ultimately he served that role very well.
So despite its flaws, this movie still works, and I think quite well. If you haven't seen it you should consider doing so.