Panic Room

Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter are trapped in the "panic room" of their new home by a trio of would-be thieves (Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, and Dwight Yoakam) who are part Three Stooges and part Hannibal Lecter. Master technician David Fincher directs with his trademark subterranean lighting and camera flourishes. David Koepp's taut script is formula stuff, to be sure, but it is quite well done, and Fincher manages to maximize the energy and keep it entertaining. There is also a surprising amount of darkish humor, given the inherently unpleasant premise. Still, the movie seems an odd choice for the high-end cast. It's pure surface; there is no subtext at all. One quibble: writers should learn the basics of medical conditions before making them integral parts of their scripts. Two questions: Do such things as "bearer bonds" (which, according to several movies, can pack tens of millions of dollars of value into an envelope the size of a Publishers Clearinghouse Contest offer) really exist? And, if you can afford a million-dollar panic room, wouldn't you tuck a couple of Hershey bars in there somewhere? P.S. Great titles.