Predictable and contrived, Don't Say a Word sees Michael Douglas playing a New York psychiatrist, Dr. Nathan Conrad. Happily married with an eight-year-old daughter, Jessie (Skye McCole Bartusiak), Conrad's world is shattered when a gang of ruthless jewel thieves kidnaps his little girl. The reason for this is simple - if thoroughly implausible, natch - the thieves believe that they can get Conrad to coax a bit of information from a mentally unstable woman (Brittany Murphy), who may hold the key to the location of a missing ruby that they nicked a decade previous. With little imagination or invention, Don't Say a Word is nothing more than a bog standard thriller with a huge budget and half an idea. The director, Gary Fleder, is obviously under the impression that flashy, show-offy cinematography compensates for a lack of a decent story, and will mask the discrepancies of the script. In terms of performances, Douglas phones his in, Sean Bean (as the arch villain) is one dimensional, while Famke Janssen is little more than window dressing.
