A powerful husband. An unfaithful wife. A jealous lover. All of them have a motive. Each of them has a plan.

Starring: Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Viggo Mortensen

Director: Andrew Davis (Chain Reaction, The Fugitive)

Previews Shown: X-Files:Fight The Future, Dr Dolittle, Jane Austen's Mafia, There's Something About Mary, The Negotiator, Lethal Weapon 4

It is a shame how the conclusion of a series of events can taint the final impression of the event. In a grander sense, meaning, a nasty breakup in a relationship stays with you, while the memories of happy times, are buried, existent only to fuel the fires of the pain. In a more applicable sense, the ending of an enjoyable movie, can completely shift an entire view and impression on its' content. Maybe this is because it is the last thing we are left with, and in our short term memory-laden social atmosphere, it is what we remember most. A good, effective ending can be like icing on an already enjoyable cake, or one last chocolate chip, in a cookie that wasn't so tasty before that.

Andrew Davis's mostly enjoyable "A Perfect Murder", takes us on ride through the world of deceit, adultery and sin. The movie lays out the premise that all is not well in suburbia, without really coming right out and saying it, all of the characters here seem to not quite be what they seem, or have hidden agendas visible to noone else (except the keen eyed moviegoer). Michael Douglas plays the powerful cold, corporate type (he can play these roles in his sleep, and he does them so well, that he keeps interest in this movie flowing..long live Gordon Gekko)..married to an unhappy, and subsequently less than faithful Gwyneth Paltrow (who gets better as the movie goes on, when she moves from window dressing, to showing more emotions than just pouty sexuality, and helplessness). She is having an affair with a stereotypical artist type, played by hippied out Viggo Mortensen (seemingly mellowed out from beating up Demi Moore in G.I. Jane). The rest of the plot, I will not reveal..it has moments of genius, other cliched predictable events, but in all, it is compelling, and watchable, if for no other reason than to admire Douglas's performance, and to see (in the line from The Truman Show) "how it will end".

The finale seems like Davis, who led us endearingly through The Fugitive, but tripped slightly with Chain Reaction (casting tip, Keanu, actor..oxymoron..remember that)didn't know how to end it, so he flipped open his Thriller Plots 101 textbook, and found the least original, and shortest one to use, and he did. Until that point, he had woven together a good, but not great, movie, watchable, chilling in it's deceitful power, with everyone and everything seemingly simmering under, like a boiler on an oven for a minute too long, but then suddenly, he had a blank, and slams us to a fairly predictable ending.

Overall, I recommend, though not as highly as would've had the conclusion been as good as the rest of the movie. As it is now, this is just a glorified movie of the week, wait, and rent it.