Reviewed by NAOMI LARKIN
Cast: Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Viggo Mortensen, David Suchet
Director: Andrew Davis
Rating: M
A Perfect Murder is an updated, glossed-up remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic Dial M for Murder.
The first half is engaging and intriguing as the story of millionaire industrialist and control-freak Steven (Douglas) and his beautiful, talented
wife Emily (Paltrow) unfolds.
We discover that although Emily is Steven's most prized possession her, infidelity with struggling downtown artist David (Mortensen) is bad enough to kill for. Steven, aiming for the perfect murder, enlists David to do the deed.
Although the story has undergone a general facelift with some snappy new twists, the original murder scene is re-enacted, with a telephone call the cue for the killer to strike.
At about this point the film loses its swiftness and some of its suspense. We are still guessing who will be left standing at the end of the day but just who is committing what crime ceases to be a mystery.
Criticism surrounding the film's release overseas has revolved around the allegedly ridiculous pairing of Paltrow, aged 25, and Douglas, 54. Yet the rich, menacing and jealousy-driven character he has perfected (Wall Street and The Game) is a well-cast match for Paltrow's performance as the sophisticated but controlled wife.
Sadly the talents of Suchet (who plays Hercule Poirot, the sleuth in the television series based on Agatha Christie's novels) are lost in the role of the cardboard cut-out Detective Mohamed Karaman.
A Perfect Murder is an entertaining thriller, with its moneyed New York setting and cunning use of mobile phones to provide an alibi and trigger a murder helping to successfully overhaul an old tale.
* * *
-- Weekend TimeOut, 14/11/98
