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Perfect Murder, A
Warner Bros.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for violence, sexuality and language
Starring
Michael Douglas,
Gwyneth Paltrow,
Viggo Mortensen,
David Suchet,
Sarita Choudhury,
Michael P. Moran,
Novella Nelson,
and
Constance Towers
A powerful husband. An unfaithful wife. A jealous lover. All of them have a motive. Each of them has a plan. (Warner Bros.)
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Patrick Smith Kelly
Frederick Knott (play)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Andrew Davis
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: February 4, 2003
Video: September 4, 2001
Theatrical: June 5, 1998
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
107 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
90
New York Magazine
David Denby
Andrew Davis, the director of "The Fugitive," one of the best thrillers of recent years, has added pace and heat and explicit sexuality to the material without whipping up phony excitement.
80
Slate
David Edelstein
It has been sexed up, opened out, and finished off with a disappointing bang-bang climax, but it's still good fun.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
I think it works like a nasty little machine to keep us involved and disturbed; my attention never strayed, and one of the elements I liked was the way Paltrow's character isn't sentimentalized.
70
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
The story has enough nasty twists and tantalizing clues for its ingenious mechanics to remain engaging.
67
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
I've seen far worse thrillers than A Perfect Murder, but the movie is ultimately more competent than pleasurable.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
By the head-scratching dénouement, the "perfect" in the title seems particularly misplaced. How about Dial M for Muddle.
60
TV Guide
Sandra Contreras
If the roller-coaster plot twists lose you, there's always the satisfaction of Douglas's take on a script rife with amusing double entendres.
60
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
A Perfect Murder begins better than it ends, and the pleasures it offers turn out to be more of a transitory nature.
50
Austin Chronicle
Hollis Chacona
Tasteful, chilly, and polite, it is foul play at its traditional best: Anglo-Saxon, urban, and upper class.
50
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
A Perfect Murder is more like a handful of anemic ice cubes floating in a lukewarm puddle.
50
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
This is simply efficient, routine storytelling with a high gloss but an undernourished sense of character.
50
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
The unsatisfying thriller A Perfect Murder is a triumph of style over substance, with style in this case winning only by default.
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
There's nothing about this thriller to prevent it from soon becoming enmeshed in the memory with others in which Michael Douglas wears a starched collar and grits his teeth.
50
Variety
Leonard Klady
The dilemma in this Perfect Murder is its singular failure at creating a rooting interest for a character or situation.
50
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
Andrew Davis ("The Fugitive," "Steal Big Steal Little") has made a technically competent thriller that's not only thrill-less, but dull.
40
Film Threat
Anthony Miele
This film once again proves that Hollywood has apparently run out of original ideas and is forced to remake another classic film and, like most Hollywood remakes -- big surprise -- it SUCKS.
40
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
The trouble is, we don't really much care about this philandering billionaire glamour puss, who seems perfectly capable of taking care of herself. We don't care about her husband or lover either.
38
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
A Perfect Murder has inexplicably managed to eliminate almost everything that was worthwhile about "Dial M for Murder," leaving behind the nearly-unwatchable wreckage of a would-be '90s thriller.
38
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
What the film lacks is suspense, surprise (the new ending is a dud) and passion.
30
Dallas Observer
Jean Oppenheimer
The picture's biggest problem is that no one is sympathetic.
25
San Francisco Examiner
Barbara Shulgasser
I HATE to whine, but if Michael Douglas is half as tired of playing yuppie scum as I am of watching him do it, then he must be napping on a regular basis by now.
20
Newsweek
David Ansen
All the surprises strenuously cooked up by screenwriter Patrick Smith Kelly and director Andrew ("The Fugitive") Davis can't overcome the movie's inability to make us care about any of its paper-thin characters.
 The average user rating for this movie is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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