DUBAI: The days when Robert De Niro’s name was a guarantee of quality may be long gone, but with De Niro, Adam Scott, Michelle Monaghan, and Michael Keaton all starring, you’d be forgiven a little excitement about “The Whisper Man,” Netflix’s crime thriller directed by James Ashcroft and based on Alex North’s popular 2019 novel.

Sadly, this is another on the increasingly long list of sub-underwhelming performances by the two-time Oscar winner. Not that anyone comes out of this looking good (although Keaton at least seems to be having fun, which no one else does). The story (clunky), the cinematography (washed out, Netflix-y), the acting, and the direction all leave plenty to be desired — all are mired in cliché.

Initially, at least, there’s some intrigue: Crime-fiction writer Tom Kennedy (Scott, awkwardly struggling to convince), recently widowed and with a young son, Jake (who has — guess what? — an imaginary friend), has moved back to his hometown (apparently something his late wife “always wanted” for her family, but pretty clearly something Tom didn’t want — one of many confusing decisions the character makes). We later learn Tom also had an imaginary friend as a kid. Or did he? Another sign of the film’s “throw it at the wall and see what sticks” plotting.

Anyhow, the timing of their return couldn’t be worse. There’s a child-napping killer running amok. Darn it. 

Leading the investigation is Detective Amanda Beck (a lackluster Monaghan), who quickly sees parallels with the crimes of serial killer Frank Carter (Keaton), aka The Whisper Man, who murdered several boys in similar fashion (whispering to his victims and getting them to record messages with which he would taunt their families and the cops) back in the Nineties before being caught by now-retired detective Peter Willis (De Niro). Oh, and Willis is also Tom’s father, but they barely speak and Willis has never met his grandson. But of course, when Jake is (inevitably) taken, the old cop is reluctantly dragged back into getting involved with the still-incarcerated Carter (who’ll “only speak to” Peter — cross that one off your crime-thriller bingo sheet) following the pleas of Tom and Detective Beck.

Before long, intrigue gives way to indifference. The plot somehow manages to be both convoluted and glaringly obvious; none of the characters are interesting enough to earn our attention; and when cast and director are so clearly underinvested, why should we bother?