A POWERFUL HUSBAND. AN UNFAITHFUL WIFE. A JEALOUS LOVER. ALL OF THEM HAVE A MOTIVE. EACH OF THEM HAS A PLAN.
Wealthy businessman Steven Taylor (Michael Douglas) is planning to murder his wife (Gwyneth Paltrow), using her lover, an artist (Viggo Mortensen), as a pawn. We don’t see it happen a lot, but this remake of Dial M for Murder (1954) is as good as the original. As a thriller, it may not have an airtight plot, but class and unpredictability in its attempt to make successful changes to the original story. Director Andrew Davis does a good job depicting a cold and distanced New York upper class and makes the movie almost as exciting as his The Fugitive (1993). Douglas could play his ruthless millionaire in his sleep and Paltrow is also good, looking a bit like Grace Kelly from the original.
1998-U.S. 105 min. Color. Produced by Anne Kopelson, Arnold Kopelson, Peter Macgregor-Scott, Christopher Mankiewicz. Directed by Andrew Davis. Screenplay: Patrick Smith Kelly. Music: James Newton Howard. Cast: Michael Douglas (Steven Taylor), Gwyneth Paltrow (Emily Bradford Taylor), Viggo Mortensen (David Shaw), David Suchet, Sarita Choudhury, Constance Towers.
Trivia: A special edition of the film features an alternate ending.
Last word: ”I wasn’t a kid who studied Hitchcock, to tell you the truth. What I loved was the realism of a Kubrick or a Sidney Lumet, and I used that here. These are just regular people until the world starts to unravel.” (Davis, The New York Times)
