"Domestic Disturbance," starring John Travolta and Vince Vaughn, left me wondering if Hollywood executives have lost the ability to read. The plot holes in the movie are so innumerable and inane that I have to wonder how such a project ever got a green light to begin production.
I can't say I'm overly surprised by the low quality of this movie. Ever since "Get Shorty" and "Face/Off," Travolta has been in steady decline. Now he's offering us the likes of "Lucky Numbers" (dreadful), worst movie of all time nominee "Battlefield Earth" and now "Domestic Disturbance."
The movie begins with a promising setup. Great guy and loving father Frank Morrison (Travolta) is facing some impending financial problems, while at the same time dealing with his ex-wife Susan's (Teri Polo) marriage with the town's new financial hotshot, Rick Barnes (Vaughn).
Frank begrudgingly takes Rick and his son Danny (Matthew O'Leary) sailing to ease the tensions that exist between stepson and stepfather. This ploy opens up the hope of an understanding between Rick and Danny, until Rick messes it up during an entertaining scene of catch with Danny. Rick loses his temper and fires a fastball right at his stepson's forehead. The boy responds by throwing the ball directly through his stepfather's window.
The stage is now set for what could have been a decent family drama. However, the major turning point of the movie - Danny becomes a witness to a murder - is far too absurd to believe, and the physical details of it all fly directly in the face of reason. The absurdity of the scene culminates when the murderer realizes someone else might be around but quickly gives up and leaves the scene of the crime anyway. This allows Danny to run to the police and tell them what he has just witnessed.
Without trying to give too much of the movie away, I will just say that writer Lewis Colick apparently thought he had created the perfect murder - one that police could never figure out, one that would never be questioned. However, there is no way the police could not have gained some form of evidence from the crime scene. Danny tells the police that the body was disposed of in a furnace at an abandoned warehouse. The police chief responds with this gem of a line: "It would take a forensics expert days to figure that one out. I'm not looking into it unless we get something else." Uh, what? There is a reported murder and the chief of police just doesn't feel like looking into it?
I tried to rationalize this, thinking that maybe the writer is insinuating that the police force in the quiet seaside town of Southport is lazy or incompetent or both. Maybe. However, in a later, unintentionally amusing scene, Frank punches some random guy in the face as he is taking his son Danny away from his mother after school. I can only think to call him "some random guy" for the very reason that the character is not in the movie at all. He just appears out of thin air for the sole purpose of being John Travolta's punching bag. In any case, after hitting the man, Frank and his son drive away. But they don't get more than a hundred yards before the police track him down and cut him off.
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It would seem that punching a man is a far more serious crime in Southport than a murder. I mean, why bother to investigate a murder claim? It's only a 12-year-old with a very believable story; it's only a deadly serious crime. Then again, the police must have been too busy protecting that random guy from the likes of Travolta's violent mood swings.
The sole highlight of this movie is Steve Buscemi. He plays Ray Coleman, a dubious "business associate" of Rick Barnes. He is the only character with much depth in the movie, but sadly he is only on screen for about five minutes. Those five minutes are enough for Buscemi to create an enjoyable character with a penchant for cheap prostitutes and good basketball. His entrance at Rick and Susan's wedding was done excellently and might have been the most interesting scene of the movie.
But besides Buscemi and some decent scenes of intimidation between Rick and Danny, this movie is downright laughable - especially the final scene and its horrid fight choreography. It involves a character rushing into the scene on cue, a flimsy wooden stool repeatedly blocking fierce blows from a large metal crowbar and a comical electrocution. Not to mention that the events leading up to the showdown are too rushed.
There are a few good lines and gripping moments in "Domestic Disturbance," but otherwise this movie has little to offer.
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