Rating: R
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 11/20/2001
Dubbed: English/Espanol
Sound: DS
Run Time: 93 Minutes
Flags: Profanity, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: Live/Artisan
A middle-aged man finds love in the last place he was looking -- his psychiatrist's waiting room -- in this dark
comedy drama.
Alex (
William H. Macy) is a man in his mid-forties who is having something of a midlife crisis; he's unhappy with his life; his marriage to
Martha (
Tracey Ullman) is going through a rough patch; he's worried about his six-year-old son, on whom he dotes; and he wishes he hadn't bucked under to the wishes of his domineering father
Michael (
Donald Sutherland) and started working in the family business. Making things even more problematic is the family's line of work --
Alex is a killer-for-hire.
Alex feels as if he's about to unravel from stress when he begins seeing
Josh (
John Ritter), a psychiatrist. One day, while waiting for his session with
Josh,
Alex meets
Sarah (
Neve Campbell), a sweet, pretty, but severely neurotic young woman with an omnivorous sexual appetite.
Alex and
Sarah take an immediate liking to one another, and
Alex begins to pursue a romance with her, though he knows an affair could create more problems than it solves, especially after
Michael informs
Alex that
Josh is his next target.
Panic marked the feature debut for writer/director
Henry Bromell, who previously distinguished himself as a novelist and a television producer. The supporting cast includes
Barbara Bain as
Alex's mother, who helped get her husband started in the business.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
;)
