Reviewed by Geno McGahee
Who doesn’t love John Travolta’s brand of overacting? Sure, I think that he wears his pants a wee bit too tight in certain films, but that does not take away from his skill. So, we know that we are probably going to be entertained by this 2001 thriller with the title of: DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE. Well, we have some more star power here as well. We have Vince Vaughn, a very versatile actor that always brings his A game and putting him across from Travolta is magic. There is more magic here then there was in GREASE with Johnny boy and Olivia Newton John, although, I prefer to see John (Olivia Newton) in leather pants rather than Vince Vaughn. Have you seen her lately? She still ain’t bad.
We begin with Frank Morrison’s (Travolta) ex wife getting remarried to a well respected and wealthy man by the name of Rick Barnes (Vaughn). Barnes is marrying Susan (Teri Polo), who also has custody of Frank’s 12 year old son, Danny (Matt O’Leary). Frank and Susan still get along very well considering that they are divorced, and she still seems to want his “greased lightning” in my opinion, but the problem is with young Danny. Danny cannot stand the new addition to the family and thinks that his stepdad is a prick.
Because Danny is so close to his dad, Susan wants to use her ex as a bumper between the son and the new hubby. Is “bumper” the right word to use? Does that sound sick to you?
Frank reluctantly agrees to take on Rick, letting him tag along on the father-son boating trip, and the guy seemed OK. Vince Vaughn is hard to dislike. What is Danny’s problem? Isn’t it weird that Travolta’s son is named “Danny” in this and in GREASE, Travolta has the name of “Danny.” For all of you musical fans out there, this movie does not deliver. There are no catchy songs or great dance sequences that you would enjoy in a movie such as GREASE 2. I don’t know why that movie gets so much bad press! It’s great…and I don’t even like musicals!
At the wedding, Rick gets an unwanted guest…a friend from the past in Ray Coleman (Steve Buscemi). Buscemi is one of the most amusing actors in the world and when he’s in a movie, you know that you are at least going to like his character. This movie is no different. Whenever he is on the screen, he steals it and his conversations with Frank are hilarious. At one point, Ray states that he was thinking about buying real estate and noted that there weren’t any adult books stores in town and was quite shocked by it. It was hilarious and his continuous “I kid you not” line was great too.
The heat is on Rick with Ray in town and with Frank probing, something has to be done. Rick (spoiler) kills his old pal but the murder is witnessed by young Danny, and now things get really interesting. Nobody believes Danny because he has been in and out of trouble, but Frank does, and now the secrets of Rick’s past begin to be exposed and violence ensues.
This isn’t a great movie, but it’s not a bad one either. I think that it would be extremely mediocre had it not had the great actors that it did. Travolta, Vaughn, Buscemi, and Polo sell the hell out of this movie and do it well. It’s too bad that they killed off Buscemi’s character so soon. I thought he was hilarious. I guess that I will just have to watch THE WEDDING SINGER and CON AIR to get my Buscemi fix.
I recommend this flick. You won’t call it a classic but you will be entertained.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10. Mediocre screenplay overcome by great actors.
