When Sarah (Neve Campbell) strikes up a conversation with a sad-eyed man called Alex (William H. Macy) at her therapist's office, she asks, "Are you one of those middle-aged guys who's tired of his marriage and thinking maybe a beautiful young thing could help him out?" She's right, but the source of Alex's depression is far from typical: he's a second-generation hit man who wants out, but his mom and dad won't let him quit.
Donald Sutherland makes Alex's laconic and utterly monstrous father the most frightening parent since John Huston in Chinatown. A series of flashbacks show how he introduced Alex to his trade, beginning with shooting squirrels in the woods. We never find out whether Alex's father has mob connections, and the fact that it's just a business to him ("This one's a big job, lots of moola, I'll buy your mother a Lexus") makes him all the more chilling. Alex's mother (the steely Barbara Bain) knows all about the family business, but his wife (Tracey Ullman) thinks he runs a mail-order company, and the only person he confides in is a therapist (John Ritter). When he meets and falls for Sarah, Alex realizes that he alone can stand up to his father, and he needs to act before his own son becomes the next apprentice.
Henry Bromell's debut film as a writer-director probes the same dark corners of the middle-aged male psyche as American Beauty and The Sopranos. Alex's tormented life is a symbol of the damage that parents can inflict on their children, and Bromell imbues his story with a tragic inevitability. Panic received a shamefully limited theatrical release, in spite of its rare combination of a great script and brilliant performances. It deserves to be rediscovered and appreciated by a much larger audience on home video. --Simon Leake
2.
Alex (William H. Macy) is having a midlife crisis; not only is he unhappy with his marriage, but he wants to get out of the family business, which happens to be killing people for hire. Seeking help, Alex turns to Dr. Josh Parks (John Ritter) for therapy. While in the psychologist's waiting room, he meets Sarah (Neve Campbell), a manic but beautiful young woman. Set reeling by his attraction to Sarah, Alex has to contend not only with his new feelings but also with his concerned wife (Tracey Ullman), his intuitive six-year-old son (David Dorfman), and his controlling father (Donald Sutherland). When Alex's tyrannical dad catches wind of his son's therapy and growing hesitation about their two-man operation, he gives Alex a new assignment--one that leads to a startling resolution.
A consistently remarkable actor, Macy delivers an outstanding performance, carrying director Henry Bromell's debut with a somber world-weariness. The film admirably manages to avoid certain tired scenarios, presenting an intriguing and unusual relationship between Campbell's impulsive Sarah and Macy's sullen Alex while portraying him as neither pathetic nor heroic. Well-written and expertly photographed, PANIC is an effective and engaging drama about one man's struggle to escape the numbness of his life.
3.
A Story Of Family, Lust, Murder… and Other Midlife Crises
All of his adult life, Alex has worked for his father in the family business. Now, in the throes of a midlife crisis, he wants out, he wants a change. Trouble is, the family business is murder-for-hire, and his father won't let him quit! After meeting and falling in love with Sarah, a confused, sexually charged twenty-three-year-old woman, his life is now really out of control!
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