The Whisper Man

Grade: C-

The cast drew me to The Whisper Man, and will bring a lot of people to it. Apparently, you can have a movie with Adam Scott, Robert De Niro, and Michael Keaton in it, and it will still be as bland as they come. Keaton plays the title character, and so does everyone else. Everyone is whisper-acting and going through the motions. De Niro is phoning it in, and I wanted to hang up.

What adds insult to injury is that Adam Scott is playing a very similar role to his character in the much better Hokum, from earlier this year. He’s a Stephen King-like horror novelist who has just lost his wife. In Hokum, he was the same kind of novelist who had just lost his parents. The Whisper Man begins with him and his young son Jake moving back to the town where his wife, Jake’s mother, grew up. Hokum had him visiting the hotel where his parents honeymooned.

Years ago, in this town, Keaton’s character (Frank Carter, aka The Whisper Man) kidnapped and murdered several young boys. De Niro’s character (now-retired former detective Peter Willis) caught him and put him in prison. Now, a copycat has emerged, doing the same things. Jake is the latest child to be abducted. Almost too coincidentally, De Niro is Adam Scott’s estranged father. The new activity from a “Whisper Man Jr” of sorts, coupled with the latest victim being his grandson that he has never met, gives him both a professional and personal reason to get back in the game.

You can feel the movie padded with red herrings along the way, meant to distract and mislead the characters. Meanwhile, the conclusion has been obvious to the viewer all along. We just have to wait for everyone to catch up. Billed as a thriller, it’s not that thrilling. I am very prone to being nervous at suspenseful moments, or if I even slightly think a jump scare might be approaching. I was as cool as a cucumber throughout The Whisper Man.

The impressive cast also includes Michelle Monaghan, Owen Teague, and Hamish Linklater. They do fine in their supporting roles, but for the legendary veterans, this feels like a paycheck. Boredom is the last thing I’d expect to feel in a scene of dialogue between Keaton and De Niro. You expect fireworks, but it’s nothing but duds that fizzle out.

Grade: C-