Happy-Go-Lucky

Flash of Genius

Eagle Eye

Ghost Town

The Duchess

Hounddog

Burn After Reading

Hamlet 2

The House Bunny

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Elegy

Bottle Shock

Married Life lopes along at a wry, leisurely, unhurried pace. Set in 1949 and based on obscure John Bingham novel Five Roundabouts to Heaven, the movie begins with Harry Allen, a long-married businessman played by Chris Cooper, confessing to his womanizing roué pal Richard (Pierce Brosnan) that he has fallen in love with much-younger woman Kay (Rachel McAdams) and must end his marriage to his loving wife, Pat (Patricia Clarkson). The hitch comes when Harry decides to spare his spouse the devastating humiliation of a divorce -- by killing her. Sixty years ago or so, that's the sort of premise that might have intrigued director Alfred Hitchcock. But wise old suspense maestro that Hitchcock was, he would have realized what director Ira Sachs (Forty Shades of Blue) apparently has not: that the basic story just isn't perverse or fascinating enough to flesh out an entire movie.

For whole stretches, Married Life sails on the formidable talents of Cooper and Clarkson, who have charm and complexity to spare. Brosnan, especially good in the "Cary Grant role," shows once again that he richly deserves a long and varied post-James Bond career. Good actors, some very good scenes and handsome period details do not a great movie make, though, especially in a movie that never settles into being a sharp, wry comedy or a full-on film noir. It feels uncooked. The usually terrific Rachel McAdams -- unwisely peroxided and tarted-up to summon the erotic va-voom of dangerous dames like Kim Novak in Vertigo -- never finds her groove as the object of both Harry's and Richard's attentions. And while casual fans of old-time thrillers might enjoy some of the sexual deceit and plot twists of Married Life, true crime buffs will leave the theater knowing that Hitchcock would only have played off the story as one of his half-hour TV shows, not a feature film.

by Stephen Rebello

Photos: Joseph Lederer/©2007 Marriage Productions LLC. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.