Married Life

"Poor old Harry (Chris Cooper) is a nice man propelled to do amazingly stupid things. By contrast, the vapid Richard (Pierce Brosnan) is simply a bachelor dandy and doesn’t hesitate to move in when introduced to Harry’s mistress Kay (Rachel McAdams). While Richard is scheming, Harry is plotting. Convinced that his loyal wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson) will be destroyed by their breakup, he lights upon the idea of killing her."

"In Married Life, Ira Sachs aims a bit lower than Green but obliterates his target: The funny, the scary, the campy, the sad--they’re all splendidly of a piece."

"The tone, casting and material form a less-than-perfect match in Married Life, a period domestic drama that never quite decides if it wants to be a credible marital study, a noirish meller or a sly comedy."

"More a case history than a devious puzzle, the movie is like a story overheard from the next restaurant booth: for all your curiosity as to how it turns out, you're not likely to have much personal investment in the people."

"The film is filled with motifs from the 40s, the perfectly presented women, the ubiquitous cigarettes, and characters exclaiming "fix yourself a drink" as if a cocktail will solve everything."

"It's a drama with elements of black comedy and suspense, European in feeling but American in attitude. Just for fun, it's set in 1949, an era of glamour, of Hitchcock and of husbands even more clueless than they are today."

"A combination of murder thriller and screwball farce is also a gently melancholy rumination on the nature of love."

"A quartet of great performances and gorgeous scenery go some way to compensating for some strange variances in tone."