writer or director henry brommel have do a wonderful job with his film and panic and from the year 2000 and and that include his choice of cast represent william h. macy and tracy ullman and john ritter and neve campbell and donald sutherland and barbara bain and david dorfman . brommel have cast ullman and ritter in decidedly un funny role and and the offbeat casting be a welcome change from what we normally see . panic be the story of a hit man and alex ( macy ) who actually work for his father ( sutherland ) . he cover his true profession by do mail order work while by all appearance and he and his wife ( ullman ) and their son sammy ( dorfman ) be a typical suburban family . unhappy with his life and alex seek the help of a psychiatrist ( ritter ) and tell only his mother ( bain ) . in the waiting room and he meet a young woman ( campbell ) to whom he be immediately attract and which complicate his situation far . his mother break her promise and tell his father about the psychiatrist . when alex receive his next assignment and he discover that he be to kill his psychiatrist . this be a profound story of a gentle and good man make into a killer by a monster of a father and with his mother knowledge and who kill to please his father but also can not stand up to him and quit . his rage be so deep seat that he have lose emotional attachment to just about everything and everyone except his son and it finally his son who wake him up out of a nearly lifelong repression . when it time for panic to move and it do quickly . panic doesn not seem panic at all . in fact and it move very slowly . but it move slowly not because it poorly make the slowness be deliberate and mirror alex own psyche slowly come out of the fog . by make a decision about sara and the campbell character and and by see his mark and his own psychiatrist and a a living and breathe human be and alex start to make the connection between what he do and who he be and how they do not jive . and the difference between the two could lead to the loss of another psyche and sammy . william macy give another brilliant performance and a a loving father and a distant husband and and a cold killer and the child of two monster who never care a damn for his feeling or desire and a man who realize finally that he have to step up to the plate or have the cycle repeat . this be not the kind of drama that play well in a movie theater . it too adult and too small and too subtle and too character driven and and too good .