Married Life (2007) [Blu-ray]
Crime | Drama | Romance

Harry (Academy Award Winner Chris Cooper, 2002, Best Supporting Actor, Adaptation) and Pat (Academy Award nominee Patricia Clarkson 2003, Best Supporting Actress, Pieces Of April) have a nice, respectable marriage. But when Harry falls in love with a beautiful young lady, he decides he must kill his wife, because divorce would cause her too much pain. Richard (Pierce Brosnan) is Harry's caddish best friend who realizes he must have Harry's lovely mistress (Rachel McAdams) for himself.

Love and friendship are contemplated with noir-style suspense and wry humor in this sly comedy that reveals there's nothing quite as devastating, or as divine, as married life.

Storyline: The late 1940s. Richard Langley, a bachelor playboy, narrates a story that starts when his best friend, Harry Allen, invites him to lunch to tell Richard he's in love. Trouble is, Harry's already married to Pat; he worries Pat would be hurt too deeply by a divorce. Then, Harry's new love, Kay, joins them. Richard is smitten, so when he finds out that Pat may be in love with someone else but won't tell Harry because she fears he would be too hurt, Richard can't decide if he should let all the cats out of the bag. He'd unite pairs of lovers, but he'd lose Kay. Meanwhile, Harry decides that a swift end to Pat's life would be more kind than divorcing her. He buys poison. Murder will out? Written by

User Comment: jegesq from United States, 4 March 2008 • Saw this last night at the premiere, and "Straight to Betamax" could not be more wrong. This is actually the first intelligent, smart and wonderfully acted film of the year, and both Patricia Clarkson and Chris Cooper give wonderful performances in a story which is intriguingly told and compellingly filmed.

I will agree with a few others that Pierce Brosnan seems a bit miscast in this picture, but not to the point that it ruins the film. Additionally, some of Rachel McAdams' dialogue seems a bit out of place for a character like her's during the period in which this story is set (it is supposed to take place in 1949), but she gives a great performance overall and her character is, for the most part (other than a few bad bits of out of place dialogue) fairly believable.

But Cooper and Clarkson are really wonderful in this film and Ira Sachs and company have done a terrific job with this story. Bravo.

Summary: Totally Disagree with "Straight to Betamax".

User Comment: Itamar Kubovy-Weiss from United States, 5 March 2008 • I was at the premiere of Married Life tonight, and I must say, it's a winner! Some of the scenes in the movie rival the best Hitchcockian comedy of manners. Sachs is always leading us through the story on two levels. With one eye we are immersed and involved in the story, while the other floats at a distance and examines the four brilliantly portrayed characters as representations of the human condition.

Married Life surfs a fine line between the comic and the tragic that is uncomfortable to acknowledge. But humor definitely wins out in the end, leaving us with an ironic but optimistic view of the flaws that increasingly populate our public and private lives as we grow older. Cooper and Brosnan achieve a fascinatingly contradictory friendship between two men that is unlike any other I've seen on screen in a long time.

Summary: Exciting and Suspenseful.

[CSW] -2.5- This film had the tone of a subtle 1940s Alfred Hitchcock thriller. It was all done so low key that it bordered on boring. The ending was anti-climactic, but in accordance with the theme of the story. Thus, I don't think it could have ended any other way. A fairly slow moving film, this isn't for anyone who wants action and adventure. The story gently unfolds, spins around a bit, then ends. If this sounds like your kind of movie rent it first.
[V4.0-A3.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.

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