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 <i>dial m for murder<i> , 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 <i>witness<i> 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 . [this appeared in the 6/18/98 " bloomington voice " , bloomington , indiana . michael redman can be contacted at <a href= " mailto : redman@bvoice . com " >redman@bvoice . com</a>] -- <a href= " mailto : mailto : redman@bvoice . com " >mailto : redman@bvoice . com</a> this week's film review at <a href= " http : //www . bvoice . com/ " >http : //www . bvoice . com/</a> film reviews archive at <a href= " http : //us . imdb . com/m/reviews_by ? michael%20redman " >http : //us . imdb . com/m/reviews_by ? michael%20redman</a> 
