in times of crisis people are driven to desperate measures . 
of course what constitutes a crisis differs from person to person . 
what may be a disastrous situation for one , may be seen as a challenge to another . 
as deepak chopra is known to say , " it's not the ride , it's the rider . " 
unfortunately clear-thinking is not always the reaction to problems . 
wall street wheeler dealer steven taylor ( michael douglas ) is a man with troubles . 
he's sunk his money in illegal financial activities and it's blown up in his face . 
in a matter of days he will lose it all . 
his wife emily ( gwyneth paltrow ) is a highly-placed un interpreter and is not happy with her life either . 
her marriage is cold and unfulfilling . 
unknown to her , her new lover david shaw ( viggo mortensen ) is not only a painter , but an ex-con with a history of bilking wealthy women of their money . 
emily is a prime target : she's worth over $100 million . 
steven's solution to his predicament is to offer david half a million to kill his wife . 
the artist accepts and the movie is underway . 
drawing from frederick knott's play and loosely based on hitchcock's dial m for murder , this is all-too typical of summer releases . 
all style and no substance . 
and there's really not much style . 
director andrew davis ( the accomplished witness and best-forgotten other films ) has made exactly the wrong choices at almost every turn . 
douglas and paltrow have both shown us that they are skillful actors in previous films . 
mortensen showed promise in the past . 
here all three are walking uninterestingly through their roles with oddly waxen faces . 
the only person who shows any sense of life is david suchet as new york detective mohamed karaman . 
he's only on-screen long enough to make you think that there might be a likable person in the film and then he disappears . 
the first concern of a suspense film is to create suspense . 
surprises are important . 
in this movie the audience keeps waiting for something to happen . 
and nothing ever does . 
nearly every event is telegraphed in advance . 
close-up on this object or that action and it's easy to guess what's going to happen . 
as the film plods towards its inevitable conclusion you keep expecting a plot twist to make the movie worthwhile . 
it's a hopeless quest . 
the story doesn't make much sense . 
steven's wife is loaded . 
even with unfriendly relations , you'd think that he could have talked to her about his difficulty rather than deciding to kill her . 
when he does decide on the dire plan he makes an unreasonable choice . 
if you were going to hire someone to kill your wife , would your first choice be her lover ? 
no matter how sleazy he is , i would think there might be a chance that he would turn down the opportunity . 
why would steven plan the murder as a break-in in their apartment ? 
why not just take her out as she was walking to david's loft in a bad neighborhood ? 
while deciding among the numerous summer films , you might do well to skip this one . 
you'll find more suspense than this movie offers by watching the weather channel .