BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

thebirdee What kind of MORON lets their kid (let alone a 6 year old kid!!) walk anywhere alone?? Really?? You don't live in some "safe" country town, you live in new york city, ffs! I don't care if the kid wants to feel like an adult, you walk with him! I had a hard time getting all broken up about this one. I see all kinds of people saying have a box of Kleenex, etc... I'll agree that some of the acting is worthwhile, but a tear jerker? Not so much. And I'm not trying to be heartless when I say this, but everyone knows after 48 hours the cops stop looking for a live person and start searching for a corpse. I know the parent(s) aren't going to admit it to themselves, but the people around them should at least start looking at them with that knowing, sad look. It would be more realistic.

brefane Stanley R. Jaffe's sole directorial effort is a disappointingly tepid and meandering film. Based on the novel Still Missing, the story is eerily similar to the real life disappearance of Etan Patz who has never been found, and what should have been gripping and moving is a standard Lifetime Channel movie weighed down by dreary, predictable dialog, and characters and situations that feel gratuitous. Kate Nelligan's tightly controlled performance may leave you cold or worse; she is neither sympathetic nor likable, and her brooding become tiresome. Jaffe drags the pace until boredom prevails, and in a lackluster and largely unnecessary supporting cast only Keith McDermott scores a success while a frazzled Stockard Channing resembles a train wreck. And the out of left field happy ending is hokey and strangely unsatisfying. Skip It!

gcd70 From screenwriter and original novelist Beth Gutcheon(novel entitled "Still Missing")comes "Without a Trace", which tells the story of a little six year old boy who leaves for school one morning and then completely disappears.The film starts slowly but picks up the tension as it moves along. Producer and one-time director Stanley R. Jaffe tries to use quiet moments early in the film; but for me they did not work. Later, as the movie gets going, it becomes moving and thought provoking. A clever and touching finale, along with solid performances from the under-rated Kate Nelligan, the magnificent Judd Hirsch and David Dukes, make the film worthwhile.Sunday, February 10, 1991 - Video

Pepper Anne Kate Nelligan stars as Susan Selky, a mother who's seven year old son disappears one morning on his route to school in a small Brooklyn neighborhood. The story follows the eventual emotional breakdown of Selky, who refuses to believe that her son is dead and, when everyone else, including good friends and ex-husband try to encourage her to simply move when the police fail to gain any new leads, she refuses to give up. The story is told primarily from the mother's point of view, though slowly comes to compete with the perspective of Al Menetti, the investigating detective played by Judd Hirsch who eventually becomes emotionally connected with the case (to a certain point), particularly because he has a son that is the same age as Susan's son.This movie was good in trying to get the viewer to not only empathize with the mother of the kidnapped boy as she first struggles with the fact that her son is missing, then the possibility that she may never again see him, and then to decide just how to proceed with her life based on that. It sticks to doing strictly this and does not become bogged down in say, the usual romantic angle where the mother might become romantically involved with the cop (which may be the case had this been a movie on the Lifetime network). The story is extremely focused and the psychological effect is especially effective, driven by the most convincing element: the anxiousness that the viewer feels along with the mother. I might say that the movie became dreadfully slow as we see the mother in the months following the first day she realized her son was missing, as the story seems to jump around, probably as a real situation might. But, the point is really to get the viewer to realize just how confusing and dreadfully anxious and terribly depressed one becomes in this kind of situation. Not just the mother, but the investigating detective (Hirsch) as well.Look for many familiar faces in small roles: Dan Lauria has a brief part as a policeman, as does Bill Smitrovich in a non-speaking role, and Bill Macy plays a reporter). Stockard Channing plays Selky's best friend. Worthy of an afternoon viewing on cable.