The title "Trapped" turns out to be a pretty fair description of how you feel while you're watching this ultra-manipulative thriller.

Set in a contrived 24-hour frame, the story concerns Will (Stuart Townshend), an anesthesiologist, and Karen (Charlize Theron), his textile-designer wife. Early in the film, their 6-year-old daughter Abby (Dakota Fanning) is abducted by Joe (Kevin Bacon) and Cheryl Hickey (Courtney Love) and held for a cool $250,000 ransom.

It's easy to sympathize with young Abby because you feel pretty much the same way.

Directed by Luis Mandoki ("Angel Eyes"), "Trapped" was written by Greg Iles and is based on his novel, "24 Hours." Like Will, the filmmakers could be considered anesthesiologists.

"Trapped" is often numbing.

Mandoki's edgy camerawork and deft pacing are not enough to compensate for the way the plot pushes you around. Placing a child in jeopardy, after all, is the second-easiest way to manipulate an audience. (The first is to put an animal in danger.) Besides, "Trapped" has so many plot holes and improbabilities that after awhile, you simply give up on it.

In a movie like this one, the performers are at the mercy of the material. Bacon does his usual sinister number, which is basically all that's required. Love concentrates on looking pathetic, while Theron has two main modes: cringing and defiant. As for Townshend, he's lost in the crowd.

This movie opened Friday without being screened for critics, which is never a good sign. The best thing to be said for it is that it makes the game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" a little easier.

It is now possible to link Kevin Bacon to Bruce Willis in three moves: Bacon and Love in "Trapped." Love and Ben Affleck in "200 Cigarettes." Affleck and Willis in "Armageddon."

Simple, huh? If only those were better movies.

"Trapped" is rated R for violence (beatings and gunplay), occasional use of strong, sexually related profanity, scenes of simulated sex and nudity (male and female). Running time: 106 minutes.