GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Micitype Pretty Good

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Clever made for TV movie involving a top defense attorney Arthur Jamison, Anthony Hopkins, trying to figure a way in "off" his annoying and blackmailing wife Louise, Blythe Danner, and make it look like either an accident or break-in murder. We get to see the well laid plans of Arthur in action at the beginning of the film as he set up his alibi and then goes through with murdering his wife Louise in their San Francisco mansion.It's then that we see that Authur was only doing all this, murdering Louise, in his mind as he together with his alter ego or double, Donegan Smith, debate how to plug all the gaps in his murder plan. It's later that a new ingredient is added to the mix, or movie, with Jackie Willis, Swoosie Kurtz, who shows up unexpectedly at the Jamison Mansion! Jackie wants to know if the Jamisons have the key to their next door neighbors, the Starks, home. Jackie was to water the Starks, who are away on vacation, plants and lost the key to their house.As the movie starts to unfold it becomes apparent that Jackie isn't just an innocent bystander in this bizarre murder plot but one of the main characters in it! In fact she's both Arthur's mistress as well as Louise's co-conspirator in a murder plot to "off" her unsuspecting husband!Even though the movie goes in and out of sub-plots in how both Arthur and his wife Louise plan to murder each other it's Jackie who holds the key to how the crime will be both committed and covered up. Playing both sides to her advantage Jackie knows, by the skillful cover-up of her relationship with the Jaminsons, that in the end no matter who of the two wannabe murders succeed she'll alway have an alibi in not being connected at the murder scene.There's also Arthur's double, or conscience, who gives him, as well as in the audience, a free lesson in the workings of law that even the very best law schools, costing as much as $25,000.00 a semester in tuition, will have a hard to to match. You learn so much about the in's and out's of criminal law in the conversations between Arthur and his double, as well as with Louise and Jackie, that you'll easily be able to pass the bar exam without as much as a sweat!****SPOILERS**** The movie ends as it began but with the opposite results which shows that the smartest and most thought out plans to murder someone don't always work out!

Neil Doyle ANTHONY HOPKINS is the mentally agile lawyer who is continually thinking up ways to get rid of his wife, the fashionable and elegant BLYTHE DANNER. Evidently, their stormy marriage is at a breaking point and he decides he must plot her demise rather than go through with a messy divorce.But what follows has enough plot turns to hold your interest, although the device of having Hopkins weigh all considerations against a trial lawyer (Hopkins in a dual role) gets a little tiresome after awhile. Not that he isn't a compelling actor whether playing the lawyer or the prosecutor, and he does create sympathy for a very detestable man.The plot takes quite a surprising turn when SWOOSIE KURTZ shows up as his mistress, another very calculating character who has some surprises of her own to throw into the mix.It all has the feel of a poor man's DIAL M FOR MURDER, showing its TV origins within some narrow settings. But you have to give credit to the writers who keep the tale spinning right until the sudden finish.The cat-and-mouse byplay between husband and wife is reminiscent of the sort of banter between Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine in SLEUTH, but the overall result is not quite as clever.

Enrique Sanchez Lots of nice words about Hopkins and Danner in these reviews - which I both believe did a fantastic job in this play...but PLEASE....the quirky character played by SWOOSIE KURTZ is - by far - the most fascinating and her performance the most whimsically memorable in this wonderful murder mystery.Even if I know what's going to happen, I love to run into this fascinating movie and it becomes new every time.

sestinatim Fans of Anthony Hopkins will delight in this carefully staged teleplay. Fans of Blythe Danner will also be pleased to see a favorite character actress given more screen time than usual.Although the plot is fairly standard and the events mostly predictable, it comes off much better than say your average Perry Mason or Columbo Movie. Hopkins, as a high-priced, high-power attorney, is delightful as he comically and and viciously destroys his own plans for his wife's murder. The play succeeds in its own ability to recognize its weaknesses. Unlike most television mysteries where the audience is asked to ignore the plot holes and revel in the detective's brilliance at spotting the clue and solving the crime, this play takes pride in pointing out its own holes as it goes along. As an audience participation spectacle, it is fun to play along, spotting the holes before the characters do. Overall, it's a bit static, with the vast majority of the action never leaving the main house, and cynics will find fault or boredom with the events leading up to the conclusion. But fans of the genre, or of Hopkins, will no doubt remain intrigued and find the ending quite satisfying. The whole play comes off much like the great Olivier and Caine character study, "Sleuth" and those who have seen that longish masterpiece know what kind of a compliment that is, and will also appreciate that this is 34 minutes shorter.Mystery fans can do much worse for an evenings entertainment.