Delayed Reaction: A Perfect Murder

What I Guessed It Was About: Michael Douglas hires a guy to kill his young wife. He does, then the plan unravels.

How I Came Into It: Michael Douglas is a year younger than Gwyneth Paltrow's mom. I get that Gwyneth always seemed a bit older than she was and audiences weren't quite ready to let go of "leading man" Michael Douglas. Still, that's a mighty age gap. Then when I realized she wasn't even a trophy wife (apparently he married her for the money, if anything) it made even less sense.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Aragorn Viggo Mortensen are a good set of leads. At times I was genuinely curious if Douglas would be able to get away with it. At its core, this is a mindless 90s thriller and sometimes that's enough.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: It's never good to start by remaking Hitchcock, even though this changed the plot greatly from Dial M for Murder. The title promises exactly two things: a murder and a perfect plan. It delivers neither. I can accept one or the other missing. "Neither" is overly misleading and annoying. Is it that hard for Hollywood to have a script with plan that's thought out? It didn't have the balls to kill off the wife either. This movie is lame and more importantly, uninteresting.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend