Ahhh, Travolta. The guy doesn’t have the sense of a worm when it comes to picking movies. I think he literally just draws straws or pulls scripts out of a hat.

I know what you’re thinking: “But Drew! He did 1995’s ‘Get Shorty,’ 1994’s ‘Pulp Fiction’ and 1977’s ‘Saturday Night Fever!’” Not a bad argument for a decent actor, but then there are other films that come to mind, such as 2000’s “Battlefield Earth,” 1989’s “Look Who’s Talking” and, as though we needed sequels, 1990’s “Look Who’s Talking Too.”

But his newest release “Domestic Disturbance” is far from the bottom of the barrel. It’s not even half bad. It could use quite a bit of character development and a few pacing adjustments, and I don’t know if I’d take the time to see it in the theater, but it’s not bad.

The story goes like this: Travolta plays Frank, a recovering alcoholic whose ex-wife Susan (Teri Polo) is getting remarried to local nice guy Rick (Vince Vaughn, doing a great job). The problem is that Frank and Susan’s delinquent brat Danny (Matt O’Leary) doesn’t like it and start acting up, running from home and school.

Problems get worse when Danny discovers that his mother is also going to have Rick’s kid. He runs out of the house and stows away in Rick’s sport utility vehicle before he heads to town.

But when Rick heads into the city, he stops to pick up the creepy Ray (Steve Buscemi, also great) who just happens to be an old crime partner who has arrived to collect some loot or he’ll reveal to everyone who Rick really is. Rather than pay Ray off, Rick kills Ray and burns his body.

Well, Danny runs off at the first opportunity and tells Frank. They go to the cops and the police cannot prove anything, believing it’s another case of a boy crying wolf, after all of Danny’s run-ins with the law.

But here’s where the plot gets convoluted - is it really so wrong for the guy to have killed Ray? Yeah, he cheated a criminal. Big deal. He took the money and has bought up local businesses, pumping money into the economy and providing work, he built a beautiful house for his new family and is a genuine good guy, for the most part. Is the world really at a loss with one less sleazy criminal in it? Personally, if I were Danny, I’d just play with my new computer, enjoy my huge room and the fact that I’d be able to go to college.

But that wouldn’t make that great of a movie. So, Danny persists and Frank begins to believe him. He starts to investigate and, well, drink.

The ending is where the bulk of the problems lie. It rushes it and turns Rick into the standard homicidal maniac, suddenly becoming violent in an effort to escape, when all he really had to do is walk out the door. It turns into the standard showdown in the old house routine, where each so-called good character has to battle the so-called evil character.

While the ending is rather tacky, the first half isn’t all bad, creating a nice tension and unsettling relationship between all the characters who are essentially thrown together into an uncomfortable situation.

But the film loses a lot of steam at the end, bringing the whole package to a grinding halt. The characters seem silly and after the 15 minutes we spend knowing it’s about to end, it almost seems like a relief when the credits roll.