This is almost the perfect plan of murder. Well...It's truth that money spins and Michael in this character was one of the rich businessman I hate the most. His company'd been ruined and his business, too. In that situation he felt that he was the man who had nothing to loose so he convinced her wife's lover ,who was pretending that he was the successful painter, to kill her. Guess, who was a guy, who had the law-full right to claim all of her money fond after her death.

Pay homage to a masterpiece, but do so very well.Hitchcock notoriously flaunted incredulity with his plots, didn't care how implausible the story was. He got away with it because he used cinema as an instrument for emotionally impacting the audience.APM, on the other hand, strives for credulity to obtain audience involvement. It tries hard to eliminate all plot holes but then leaves a gaping one: A spacious luxury apartment with only a kitchen telephone--no extension phones, no cell phone--just that lonely wall phone. The writer took liberties with all other aspects of this Dial M For Murder makeover, so why the strict adherence to replication of Grace Kelly's late-night phone-answering attack? In 1954, most homes had one phone but not so in 1998.Also, director Levinson asks (and gets) the audience to sympathize with the unfaithful Gwyneth Paltrow for much of the film, just as Hitchcock was able to have the audience side with the adulterous Grace Kelly in DMFM. Hitchcock managed to carry Kelly's vulnerability throughout; however, Levinson presents a Paltrow at the end who's cunning and perfectly capable of murdering her would-be murderous husband. Vulnerability was the one saving grace left to the wayward Paltrow. Without it, she became the equal of Viggo Mortensen and Michael Douglas, two morally bankrupt characters. (And Paltrow screaming at Douglas hardly enhanced her likability.) If the viewer was to grant Paltrow forgiveness, they needed to see her as deserving. This film succeeded in casting and camera work. It's a shame that the director couldn't have paid closer attention to plausibility. Hitchcock didn't have to, but all others must.

Emily (Gwyneth Paltrow) is the wife of wealthy New Yorker Steven Taylor (Michael Douglas). She's an aide to UN Ambassador Alice Wills and having an affair with painter David Shaw (Viggo Mortensen). Steven suspects her infidelity and is in dire financial trouble. He also discovers that David is con man named Winston Lagrange and offers him $500k to kill his wife. After the break-in, police detective Mohamed Karaman (David Suchet) investigates.In the original, Alfred Hitchcock is able to create some limited sympathy for Grace Kelly by making her a blackmail victim. There is no such feelings for Gwyneth Paltrow. Also David Shaw is a con man in this version so there is no likability for the cheating couple. Douglas is a great slick puppet master but I don't really care about these people. It's great to have Douglas slithering across the screen but director Andrew Davis is unable to generated the needed tension or thrills.

A brilliant re-make of Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, starring the far more charismatic Michael Douglas in the Ray Milland role. This re- make's other leads don't quite match the sterling performances in Hitch's version, but Gwyneth Paltrow certainly gives the superbly cast Grace Kelly a close call. Anthony Dawson's role as the villain in the 1954 version has been considerably expanded and re-written, so it is a little unfair to say that Viggo Mortensen gives the better account. Let's just say that, in my opinion, Mortensen should have given us at least a few subtle indications of his real character right from the start. Instead, either he or director Andrew Davis have chosen to play the role vigorously, but straight. An opportunity missed! But nevertheless, A Perfect Murder certainly does come across with enough suspenseful twists and turns to keep all eyes riveted on the screen from opening to close. And, as said above, Michael Douglas is superb! Available on an excellent Warner Brothers DVD.