Domestic Disturbance (2001)

23% of critics liked it
(98 reviews)
44% of users liked it
(41,576 ratings)

John Travolta stars in this thriller as divorced husband and father Frank Morrison, a boat builder concerned about his son Danny (Matthew O'Leary), a troubled 11-year-old who has shown a tendency to lie since his parents broke up. When his ex-wife Susan (Teri Polo) announces that she's getting… More John Travolta stars in this thriller as divorced husband and father Frank Morrison, a boat builder concerned about his son Danny (Matthew O'Leary), a troubled 11-year-old who has shown a tendency to lie since his parents broke up. When his ex-wife Susan (Teri Polo) announces that she's getting remarried to Rick Barnes (Vince Vaughn), a recent arrival in town and a popular, wealthy philanthropist, Frank struggles with jealousy but feels that Rick might be a stabilizing influence for his son. When Danny begins relating unsettling stories about Rick, Frank at first chalks it up to youthful rebellion, but when Danny stridently claims to have witnessed his new stepfather committing murder, Frank's instincts tell him the story is true. As he investigates the new man in his family's life, Frank uncovers alarming facts about Rick, who's not the man he appears to be. Domestic Disturbance (2001) made headlines six months before its release when co-star Steve Buscemi, accompanied by Vaughn and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg, was stabbed and seriously injured in an after-hours bar brawl with locals near the film's North Carolina set. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 29 min.
Directed By: Harold Becker
Written By: Lewis Colick
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Nov 2, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Apr 16, 2002
Studio: Paramount Pictures

Critic Reviews

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
It's dire, unimaginative silliness.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Movies like Domestic Disturbance leave me dispirited. There's nothing likable, exciting, or intriguing about them.
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
It's big and dumb, all right -- the sort of thing you'd like to shoot with an elephant gun to put out of its misery.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Does a masterful job of building menace until about halfway through.
Rita Kempley, Washington Post
The most surprising thing about the movie is that somebody bothered to make it.
Spence D., IGN Movies
This film quickly sinks into a lame, ultra-predictable storyline that would never have made it past the made-for-cable-TV editorial commission.
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
Filme feito para a sessão da tarde, onde bobagens deste tipo são aceitas com mais facilidade.
Tyler Hanley, Palo Alto Weekly
Typical thriller material detracts from a touching father-son bonding story.
Harry Guerin, RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
As much excitement as an episode of Family Ties.

Read all 9 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Nicki M

Quite dull for a thriller and lacking in storyline. I would be seriously annoyed if I paid money to see this at the cinema instead of watching it on tv. Looks cheaply made like a tv movie, except I have seen more entertaining tv movies. Why Vince Vaugh's character is a psycho is… More
Quite dull for a thriller and lacking in storyline. I would be seriously annoyed if I paid money to see this at the cinema instead of watching it on tv. Looks cheaply made like a tv movie, except I have seen more entertaining tv movies. Why Vince Vaugh's character is a psycho is never explained (or it was but I was asleep through boredom in that bit). Pile of wishy washy characters I couldn't care less about.
Tim S

Meh.
Lady D

Surprisingly good, a little predictable in places but a pretty good Thriller. I do prefer Vince Vaughns more serious roles and think in this case he made a good bad guyl. Easy watching, enjoyable and entertaining.
Anthony L

If this was a made for TV movie it would be quite good, it certainly has that feel about it but it?s not. It?s a made for cinema movie, so therefore is crap.
Leigh R

Tense.
Dan S

An "ok" thriller. Its familiar in a lot of ways, but the casting is excellent. Travolta is spot-on as the caring dad, Vaughn is fine as the two-faced step-father, O'Leary good as the son, and Buscemi superb as a sleazebag. The positives are that its got a nice dose of… More
An "ok" thriller. Its familiar in a lot of ways, but the casting is excellent. Travolta is spot-on as the caring dad, Vaughn is fine as the two-faced step-father, O'Leary good as the son, and Buscemi superb as a sleazebag. The positives are that its got a nice dose of excitement, and the performances are believeable. The real big negative is that its very predictable. Never unentertaining, though.
Jason S

Kind of creepy but not all that original. I liked the performances though. All involved put in really good work.
Dean !

An ok thriller but has a made for TV feel to it.
Megan S

This was basically a Lifetime Television Movie with John Travolta in it so they could play it in theaters and charge you money to watch it.
Dean M

Fine John Travolta cat-and-mouse thriller.
Todd S

Ask yourself this, what if you witnessed a crime and no one believed you? Better yet, what if you were a kid when this happened? That is the premise of this modern day thriller, Domestic Disturbance. It isn't the perfect movie, but the story, while predictable, was still so much… More
Ask yourself this, what if you witnessed a crime and no one believed you? Better yet, what if you were a kid when this happened? That is the premise of this modern day thriller, Domestic Disturbance. It isn't the perfect movie, but the story, while predictable, was still so much fun to watch. As for the cast, John Travolta and Vince Vaughn alone should tell you that you're in for something special. I know a lot of people love Vaughn, I don't, but he was great in this film. Matthew O'Leary, a newcomer back then, seemed as thou he's been doing this for years, acting as the perfect go between and playing his role flawlessly. Domestic Disturbance is fun, exciting, and has an unbelievable cast. Besides the predictability, the only other thing I can say negatively about this film was that it wasn't long enough! I really enjoyed it and didn't want it to end.
Beth M

It's nice to see Vince Vaughn play a different role, and as good as he was playing a stepfather who kills, it was predictable and boring. There wasn't very much action and it didn't make it any different to other films that have similar storylines. It was a somewhat… More
It's nice to see Vince Vaughn play a different role, and as good as he was playing a stepfather who kills, it was predictable and boring. There wasn't very much action and it didn't make it any different to other films that have similar storylines. It was a somewhat touching performance with John Travolta and Matt O'Leary but this film was average and nothing really exciting to keep you wanting to watch more. Vince Vaughn is at his best at comedy and he makes a lot more box office hits, a truly awful and quite a short running film that could of done so much better to work on a storyline that was original and not something that we've all seen before.
Deb S

A suspense thriller about a divorced boat-builder Frank Morrison (John Travolta) living in a seaside town who is hoping to get along with his ex-wife's new husband, but his pre-teen son who is having trouble coping with his mother's second marriage to the creepy Rick Barnes… More
A suspense thriller about a divorced boat-builder Frank Morrison (John Travolta) living in a seaside town who is hoping to get along with his ex-wife's new husband, but his pre-teen son who is having trouble coping with his mother's second marriage to the creepy Rick Barnes (Vince Vaughn) convinces him that the new hubby is bad news when he accidentally witnesses Rick murder a co-hort (Steve Buscemi) in cold blood and incinerate him, leaving virtually no evidence. Sadly, because the lad has a reputation as a habitual liar, no-one believes him least of all his mother (Teri Polo) who doesn't realize that her new hubby is torturing her child under her own roof in an effort to keep him silent and now it is up to his recovering alcoholic, good old dad to come to the rescue. Although the script was somewhat predictable it kept my attention throughout and Vince Vaughn pulls off the bad guy role reasonably well.
Christopher O

A uninspired thriller from a good director like Harold Becker with uninspired performances from good actors like Travolta, Vaughn and Polo. A boy's mom marries crooked business man played by Vince Vaughn and his real dad played by Travolta must save the day. Had a good premise… More
A uninspired thriller from a good director like Harold Becker with uninspired performances from good actors like Travolta, Vaughn and Polo. A boy's mom marries crooked business man played by Vince Vaughn and his real dad played by Travolta must save the day. Had a good premise just not initiated very well.
Erin C

For being PG13, it was still pretty creepy. The boy did a really good job, and Travolta was awesome as always. It was weird seeing Vince in a serious role though!
Lee K

was pretty good although i would much prefer if they reversed the roles and had travolta as the villain wouldve been cool, needless to say worth a watch
Sarah P

This is one of those "guilty pleasure" movies, very easy to watch and get caught up in, but very averge filmmaking.