Vince Vaughn will always be best known for his work in the comedy genre, which is to be expected when he’s appeared in a number of critical and commercial hits over the years including his breakout turn in Swingers, Old School, Dodgeball, Anchorman, Wedding Crashers and many more, but he did attempt to broaden his horizons on several occasions during the apex of his popularity.
The shot-for-shot Psycho remake is probably best left forgotten, but Vaughn gave the whole psychological thriller thing another stab in 2001’s Domestic Disturbance, which is now streaming on Netflix. The actor stars as the new husband of Teri Polo’s Susan Morrison, who’s enjoying a fresh start with her son Danny following a divorce from her ex Frank, played by John Travolta.
Youngster Danny gains a reputation for lying about a lot of things, and when he accuses his new stepfather of murder, his dad is the only one who takes his claims at face value, leading to an escalating series of events punctuated by several shocking revelations and a huge number of fairly incredulous plot twists along the way.
Domestic Disturbance was not a hit when it was first released in November 2001, failing to recoup the $75 million budget after topping out with a box office haul of just over $54 million. Critics weren’t particularly enthused, either, and it holds weak Rotten Tomatoes score of 24%. However, at a brief 89 minutes, it’s exactly the sort of disposable genre film that can be easily consumed late at night or during a lazy weekend, so the Vince Vaughn effort still stands a decent enough chance of making an impression on the Netflix Top 10 most-watched list, where B-tier thrillers often tend to thrive.
