
Viggo Mortensen undergoes an interesting transformation in his key scene with Douglas we believe him when he's a nice guy, and we believe him even more when he's not he doesn't do a big style shift, he simply turns off his people-pleasing face. I will say that Paltrow does a convincing job of playing a chic wife who considers love to be a choice more than a destiny. ("You steal the crown jewel of a man's life, and all you can come up with is some Hallmark sentiment?'') A murder is arranged in the movie, but for once the TV ads leave you with a certain doubt about who is doing what and with which and to whom, so I won't reveal the secret. This is not a happy marriage and the movie never pretends otherwise, and when the husband confronts the artist in his studio, there is a kind of blunt savagery to the way he cuts to the bottom line. "A Perfect Murder'' doesn't fool around with a misleading opening charade to deceive us.


The Paltrow character is an heiress who is having an affair with an artist named David Shaw ( Viggo Mortensen).
