Perfect Murder, A

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.

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.

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.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The story has enough nasty twists and tantalizing clues for its ingenious mechanics to remain engaging.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

I've seen far worse thrillers than A Perfect Murder, but the movie is ultimately more competent than pleasurable.

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.

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.

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.

Austin Chronicle Hollis Chacona

Tasteful, chilly, and polite, it is foul play at its traditional best: Anglo-Saxon, urban, and upper class.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

A Perfect Murder is more like a handful of anemic ice cubes floating in a lukewarm puddle.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

This is simply efficient, routine storytelling with a high gloss but an undernourished sense of character.

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.

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.

Variety Leonard Klady

The dilemma in this Perfect Murder is its singular failure at creating a rooting interest for a character or situation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

What the film lacks is suspense, surprise (the new ending is a dud) and passion.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

The picture's biggest problem is that no one is sympathetic.

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.

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.