There's no question that the IMDb page for The Quiet has been clicked on a lot. I'm sure several guys in the 18-29 demographic have clicked on it while viewing Elisha Cuthbert's filmography and thought, "what is this?" A better question would be, why didn't this get a bigger release? After all, Cuthbert has become one of Hollywood's hottest young stars in the past few years, making it easy for a good marketing campaign. Unfortunately, The Quiet is yet another great movie that was virtually dumped by its distributor, given no chance to succeed.
Shot in 2004, The Quiet is director Jamie Babbit's second feature following 1999's well-made satire But I'm a Cheerleader. The main character in Babbit's follow-up is also a cheerleader: 17-year-old Nina Deer (Elisha Cuthbert) is the daughter of an architect father (Martin Donovan) and a pill-addicted mother (Edie Falco). They have recently adopted Dot (Camilla Belle), a deaf 16-year-old who unlike Nina, doesn't fit in at school. While the plot at first sounds like an American Beauty knock-off, without giving away spoilers, it goes in a very different and braver direction than that film did. As with American Beauty, however, the performances are flawless with Cuthbert and Belle giving two of the most real portrayals of high school students I've seen in years.
Even with the excellent cast, The Quiet could have run the risk of being an all-out sleaze-fest thriller like Wild Things, but Jamie Babbit manages to keep everything tonally right, giving just the right balance of drama, mystery, and suspense. Although some have complained that the twist in the end is obvious, I personally never saw it coming and I can normally spot plot twists an hour before they happen. In fact, the only complaint to be had with The Quiet is with the constant use of voice-over. While voice-over was appropriate for the picture, it was used too often and dampened its effect. Even with that fault, The Quiet is still a powerful and unexpected surprise that deserved better. 9/10
Shot in 2004, The Quiet is director Jamie Babbit's second feature following 1999's well-made satire But I'm a Cheerleader. The main character in Babbit's follow-up is also a cheerleader: 17-year-old Nina Deer (Elisha Cuthbert) is the daughter of an architect father (Martin Donovan) and a pill-addicted mother (Edie Falco). They have recently adopted Dot (Camilla Belle), a deaf 16-year-old who unlike Nina, doesn't fit in at school. While the plot at first sounds like an American Beauty knock-off, without giving away spoilers, it goes in a very different and braver direction than that film did. As with American Beauty, however, the performances are flawless with Cuthbert and Belle giving two of the most real portrayals of high school students I've seen in years.
Even with the excellent cast, The Quiet could have run the risk of being an all-out sleaze-fest thriller like Wild Things, but Jamie Babbit manages to keep everything tonally right, giving just the right balance of drama, mystery, and suspense. Although some have complained that the twist in the end is obvious, I personally never saw it coming and I can normally spot plot twists an hour before they happen. In fact, the only complaint to be had with The Quiet is with the constant use of voice-over. While voice-over was appropriate for the picture, it was used too often and dampened its effect. Even with that fault, The Quiet is still a powerful and unexpected surprise that deserved better. 9/10