A Perfect Murder

Douglas is perfectly cast as a predatory 'control freak' in this classy, intelligent remake of Hitchcock's dramatically flat 3-D thriller, Dial M for Murder. The script's contemporary update complicates the central triangular relationship between Douglas's cuckolded industrialist, Mortensen's struggling artist and Paltrow's sleek, highly intelligent 'trophy wife'. Free of the 'helpless victim' role given to Grace Kelly, Paltrow achieves a far more credible complexity: by turns passionate, naive, vulnerable and smart, her character ultimately finds the strength to confront the truth about the web of deceitful, mercenary relationships in which she has become entangled. Though better known for action pics like The Fugitive, director Davis displays an equal facility for seamless plotting, taut suspense and scenes of twisted intimacy.