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All Movie Info
Directed By
Andrew Davis
Written By:
Patrick Smith Kelly
Cast:
Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Viggo Mortensen, David Suchet, Sarita Choudhury, Michael P. Moran, Novella Nelson, Constance Towers, Will Lyman, Stephen Singer, Laurinda Barrett, Reed Birney, Lee Wong, Roberta Orlandi, Francis Dumaurier, Peter Benson, Jeff Williams, David Eigenberg, Jean De Baer, Monica Parker, Starla Benford, Joanna Adler, Gerry Becker, William Bogert, Adrian Martinez, Kelly AuCoin, Bill Corsair, Marshall Factora, Jack Mulcahy, Christopher Del Gaudio, Maeve McGuire, Maeve McGuire, Aideen O'Kelly, Vincent Smith, Bill Ambrozy, George Blumenthal, Iris Braydon, Marion Blumenthal, Andrew Sussman, Radney Tucker, Beverly Tucker, Bradford Billet, Robert Bosco Cokljat, Michel Moinot, Gerrit Vooren, Michael H. Ingram, Scott Dillin, James Georgiades, José Ramón Rosario, Dexter Brown, Taylor McCall, Robynn N. Sussmann, Marat Yusim, Deen Badarou, Bob Bowersox, Todo Segalla
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A Perfect Murder (1998)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
January 3rd, 2008
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Few actors can play devious, cold, and conniving rich people like Michael Douglas. He proved this with Wall Street, and again with 'A Perfect Murder', a solid remake of Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, with Ray Milland and Grace Kelly, based on a play by Frederick Knott. It is an intriguing and smart thriller, about a wealthy currency trader named Steven Taylor (Douglas), who plans on killing his wife, Emily (Paltrow), who stands to inherit $100 million from her parents. One might wonder why Steven would care about this particular sum of money, but we learn that his company is facing some financial problems, serious financial problems, and could also face the consequences of illegal business practices, but he never reveals this to Emily, just like she doesn't reveal that she is having an affair with David Shaw (Mortensen), an artist, with secrets of his own. Emily seems to be in love with David, and not with Steven, there is an emotional distance between them, their marriage lacks any kind of sincere affection. Steven controls everything; Emily is merely a trophy, someone who can accompany him to social events. Steven hires David to kill Emily, goes over the scheme thoroughly with him, making sure to account for any possible flaws, but it still backfires, disastrously so, and there is a web of deceit and betrayal, bribes and blackmail, and a sinister convergence of various plot twists, which come together quickly in the last few frames.
The movie informs us from the beginning about the affair, the bad marriage, the murder scheme; it appears only a matter of time until Emily pieces together what actually happened, and Steven thinks on his feet, proving a very good liar, as he supplies answers to her questions, and those of a detective who may consider him a prime suspect. David has a few tricks up his sleeve, too, and Viggo Mortensen switches effortlessly from nice guy to bad guy with only some slight alterations in his facial expressions and tone of voice. Paltrow is convincing, and Douglas is mesmerizing, in another top-notch performance, one that channels Gordon Gekko, with charisma and sophistication, but also mystery and malevolence. Despite the weak, disappointing conclusion, the film is, for the most part, utterly riveting, and suspenseful. I am not sure every motive is entirely clear, but greed, jealousy, revenge, and lust are certainly the primary impulses that drive these characters to do what they do. It is always fascinating to observe the crimes of the rich.
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 | Andy
Jan 3, 2008 11:26 AM
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| Not trying to be a jerk, but Cary Grant wasn't in Dial M for Murder. The Hitchcock movies Grant was in were Notorious, Suspicion, To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest. Just though I'd let you know. |
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Jan 3, 2008 11:36 AM