A powerful husband. An unfaithful wife. A jealous lover. <BR>&nbsp;

A powerful husband. An unfaithful wife. A jealous lover.

Some people might think that if you`re going to remake a film by Alfred Hitchcock then you`d better up your game and do it better. Well, the team behind A Perfect Murder have made the attempt. A Perfect Murder is based on Frederick Knotts` play Dial M For Murder which Hitchcock filmed in 1954 with Ray Milland, Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings. In A Perfect Murder it`s only a basic plot point which remains the same, the names and the location and the style really are quite different. It`s about millionaire Steven Taylor played by Michael Douglas who has murderous intent on his much younger wife Emily played by Gwyneth Paltrow...Emily has been having an affair with an artist David Shaw - Viggo Mortensen...a fact that Steven seems to suspect...It`s not long before Steven involves Shaw in the murder plot which goes shockingly awry. Attempting to update the story with such a major plot change has merely made every single character in the film singularly unappealing. It was thrilling enough the way Hitchcock told it, but basically the story is too thin and too incredible for 90`s consumption. Andrew Davis - of The Fugitive fame - was the director and he brings a certain glossy style to the film, we see how the rich live in New York and Paltrow is an elegant clothes horse. Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow are rather cold in their roles, we obviously don`t warm to him but we don`t to her either. Viggo Mortensen has a charismatic presence on screen but even he can`t inject much intelligence into Shaw`s character. British actor David Suchet does the most interesting work in the film as an Arab-American cop.