i must have seen a different film!!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Alex (William H. Macy) is tired of the family business. His father Michael (Donald Sutherland) taught him to be a killer from a young age. He goes to psychiatrist Dr. Josh Parks (John Ritter) and falls for fellow patient Sarah Cassidy (Neve Campbell) despite being married to Martha (Tracey Ullman). His father gives him his next assignment, Dr. Parks. He struggles with his feelings for Sarah and his job. Then his father starts training his son Sammy.The mood is a bit depressed. It doesn't have much intensity. The movie feels short not only in the running time. It feels like the flirtations are cut short. There is a great scene with Alex and Sarah. The movie needs to have more of those scenes. There could also be more conflict with the father. The tension could be ratchet up. His wife could have caught him with Sarah. The movie needs to inject more danger and more tension. Overall, this is a quiet moody little movie.

The part of the depressed, weird man was tailor-made for William H. Macy. He is often quite droll throughout the movie and although that is what the part calls for, it can rub on your nerves at times.As Alex, he seeks the advice of a psychologist who was nicely played by the late John Ritter. Alex is in the mail-order business and his second job is a hit-man for his father. He is perplexed because he wants to quit, but his dad will never allow it.Of all people, Barbara Bain shows up as Donald Sutherland's (the father) wife. She is the dutiful wife.There is a fine performance by Tracy Ullmann as Alex's perplexed wife and Neve Campbell is in fine form as the girl Alex meets while in therapy who tantalizes him.The ironic ending could be described as somewhat predictable, but it was interesting to view how events folded.

Wow I really liked this movie, William H. Macy is great as the quiet hit-man Alex.All the performances here are really good, the plot is interesting and entertaining.Alex, a married hit-man (like his father)with a little son, is going through a middle age crisis and wants to quit the family business so he goes to the psychiatrist for help and in this place he meets the young free will spirit Sarah of whom he falls in love to. One day Alex doesn't know what to do when he gets a job to kill a person he knows. I recommend you to watch it if you like mature interesting movies.8 stars = very good

In his first go as a Hollywood director, Henry Brommell whips an enthralling yarn that is all of penetrating relatable marital issues with melancholic authenticity, and lacing such with an equally absorbing subplot of a father-son hit-man business. The film is directed astutely and consists of a wonderfully put together cast as well as a swift, family-conscious screenplay (also by Brommell) that brings life to an otherwise fatigued genre. As a bonus, 'Panic' delivers subtle, acerbic humor—an unexpected, undeniably charming, and very welcome surprise—through its bumbling, unsure-of-himself, low-key star, whose ever-cool state is enticing, especially given his line of work.The forever-great William H. Macy again captures our hearts as Alex, a unhappy, torn, middle-aged husband and father who finds solace in the most dubious of persons: a young, attractive, equally-messed-up 23-year-old named Sarah (Neve Campbell), whom he meets in the waiting-room at a psychologist's office, where he awaits the therapy of Dr. Josh Parks (John Ritter) to discuss his growing eagerness to quit the family business that his father (Donald Sutherland) built. Alex, whose lust to lead a new life is obstructed by the fear of disappointing his dictating father, strikes an unwise fancy for Sarah, which ultimately leads him to understand the essence and irrefutable responsibility of being a husband to his wife and, more importantly to him, a good father to his six-year-old son, Sammy (played enthusiastically by the endearing David Dorfman).Henry Brommell's brilliant 'Panic' is something of a rarity in Hollywood seldom seen (with the exception of 2002's 'Road to Perdition') since its conception in 2000—it weaves two conflicting genres (organized-crime, family drama) into a fascinating, warm hunk of movie-viewing that is evenly strong in either direction—and it's one that will maintain its exceptional, infrequent caliber and gleaming sincerity for ages to come.