“Panic”

“With a Friend Like Harry”

Near the end of the ’90s it suddenly… “Panic”

“With a Friend Like Harry”

Near the end of the ’90s it suddenly became acceptable and even desirable for hit men and mobsters of the film world to go to therapy. Robert DeNiro did it in “Analyze This,” James Gandolfini does it in “The Sopranos” and “Panic” begins with William H. Macy as Alex, a hit man starting his therapy sessions.

Alex is reaching middle age and he doesn’t know what he wants. He is unsure why he’s in therapy, he is sick of his father (Donald Sutherland) who began grooming him for the job since he was 5 years old. He loves his wife (Tracey Ullman) and son (David Dorfman), who both have no idea about his “other” profession. But he is falling for another woman (Neve Campbell) who he sees in the waiting room before every therapy session.

Alex feels trapped. He doesn’t want to kill anymore, but he is afraid to confront his father about the matter. His job aggravates the normal problems in mid-life. Then he is assigned to kill someone he knows, and things begin to spiral out of control.

“Panic” is a film that allows the viewer insights and connections to a character that is normally held aloft: the murderer. All of the elements in the craft of film are meshed here so well that we’re given an opportunity to see Alex as a person, rather than a character.

Macy, Sutherland and Campbell all perform wonderfully, not only in scenes where they have to play off of each other, but also when they are alone. Macy especially can be compelling in total silence solely by use of his wonderful facial expressions and eye movements that he displayed so well in films like “Magnolia” and “Fargo.”

Though this is director Henry Bromell’s film debut, he has experience in great television, writing for shows like “Homicide” and “Northern Exposure.” With “Panic,” Bromell looks to dethrone James L. Brooks (