Married Life is the sweetest, most tender movie you'll ever see about a man who wants to kills his wife so he can be with his young girlfriend.In post-WWII America, Harry Allen and Richard Langley (Chris Cooper and Pierce Brosnan) are two old friends who couldn't be more different. Harry is happily married and romantic. Rich is a confirmed bachelor and cynic in the ways of love. Then one day, Rich hears something he never expected from his friend. Harry is having an affair. He still loves his wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson), but Harry has become frustrated and unfulfilled by Pat's determined unsentimentality. Harry doesn't want a good and loving companion, he wants a soul mate and he thinks he's found one in Kay Nesbitt (Rachel McAdams). Harry even introduces Kay to Rich, confident that his friend will keep his secret.The problem is that Harry still cares about Pat and can't stand the idea of the pain and embarrassment a divorce would cause her. T hings are further complicated when Rich finds himself drawn to Kay, and then discovers something about Pat that could solve Harry's problem. Rich turns that information to his benefit, however, without ever knowing that Harry has decided the only way out of his predicament is to kill Pat. Harry thinks it's the kindest thing he can do, but discovers that killing your wife is a much thornier problem than he expected, both practically and emotionally.If you just consider the plot, Married Life seems like a noirish thriller. It's really a relaxed and heartfelt meditation on the sanctity of marriage and how that union can prosper and satisfy, if you can protect it from the challenges of desire and impatience. It asks us to consider two people who get everything they need from each other, yet are willing to throw that away because they can't have what they want. You expect Harry to learn a lesson from his adulterous and murder-planning ways, but he doesn't learn the lesson you expected.The acting in this movie is quite good, if a bit low key. Chris Cooper does a nice job not letting Harry collapse into a caricature. Instead of letting Harry seem like a selfish hypocrite, Cooper shows us a man whose deep emotions are simply running away with him. Brosnan is also good as the more worldly Rich who secretly envies the peace and care of his friend's marriage. Rachel McAdams is exceptionally beautiful as Kay, but her performance is unexceptional. You can understand why Harry and Rich would fall in lust with her, but McAdams never gives the character enough to make us believe they would fall madly in love with her. But the star of the show is Patricia Clarkson. She is ceaselessly charming and endearing as Pat, even more so when we discover there's more to her than just being a devoted wife.Now, there are a couple of plot twists that are tough to swallow and the film appears to be in complete denial about the fact that McAdams looks young enough to be Cooper or Brosnan's daughter. It's one thing for "the other woman" to be much younger when the story is on the page, but when you see a couple of middle aged men enamored with a woman at least 20 years younger than they are, there are certain inescapable implications which flow from that dynamic. The age difference should say something about the relationships between Harry and Kay and Rich and Kay. Married Life, however, just cruises along without even vaguely acknowledging those implications.A lot of stories talk about love. Far fewer talk about marriage. Even less than that focus on marriage as it actually is. Married Life is a light, funny and appealing entry into that minuscule third category. If you've ever wanted to kill the person you love, definitely give it a look.

Married Life is set in 1949; the story opens into a picturesque, affluent suburb where Harry Allen (Chris Cooper) resides with his wife, Pat (Patricia Clarkson). But there's trouble brewing beyond the perfect picket fences. Harry has fallen deeply in love with a blonde beauty named Kay (Rachel McAdams). He confesses his secret to his longtime bachelor friend, Richard (Pierce Brosnan), and even introduces Richard to the lovely Kay. Unfortunately for Harry, Richard is instantly smitten, and makes up his mind that he will do whatever it takes to win Kay for himself. Harry, meanwhile, continues to plot ways to escape his marriage, though he fears leaving Pat will destroy her. He soon decides the most humane thing would be to dispose of her the old-fashioned way, with the aid of a little poison. While he debates on when to make his move, we learn that Pat actually has a few secrets of her own. Married Life is a very clever take on the trials and tribulations of marriage. It's a dramatic piece that shows what people do for love and the extreme lengths they go so that they can be with someone. One can never truly know what is going trough their partner's mind and people will always have secrets. The film has a very tense atmosphere and could be just as easily described as a psychological thriller. Visually, the film is stunning and the recreation of the era is mesmerizing. The set design is tremendous and so are the costumes. However, the film biggest strength relies undeniably in the extremely talented cast. Chris Cooper is terrific, specially in the second and third act of the film. Rachel Mcadams is adorable as usual and Pierce Brosnan is very charming. Patricia Clarkson also delivered a very solid performance. Overall, a beautifully crafted and highly entertaining film.7.5/10

Mostly set in 1949 and 1950, when most men still wore hats outside.Chris Cooper is Harry Allen, a well-to-do business man with a nice office and a secretary that does things for him. Yes, that is the way it was back then. Patricia Clarkson is his wife Pat Allen, and she has a somewhat peculiar definition of love, to her it means great sex, and often. She doesn't quite understand how her husband wants emotional closeness. Pierce Brosnan is Harry's friend since they were boys, Richard Langley, and they seem to tell each other everything. At least Harry tells Richard. This leads to much of the complications in the story.The biggest and prettiest complication is Rachel McAdams as young war widow Kay Nesbitt. The story involves romance not necessarily in one's own bedroom, and the complications that ensue when reality catches up with the deceptions. Good, interesting movie. All first-rate actors.SPOILERS: Harry loves Pat, but he has really become smitten with younger and prettier Kay, who appears to love him equally. Harry knows he has to be with Kay, but he also worries that it will make Pat unhappy the rest of her live, so he does the only logical (to him) thing, he plots to murder Pat. Meanwhile Pat has developed a sexual relationship with another man, but she knows that Harry "needs" her so she has no interest in leaving Harry. But Richard, a perpetually single playboy sees Kay as a worthwhile target and sets about luring her away from Harry's affections and into his. He eventually succeeds, and fortunately Harry's attempt to poison Pat fails, so Pat and Harry and Kay and Richard learn to embrace what life has given them and make the most of it.

MARRIED LIFE will probably fare better in the DVD format where this at times disturbing view of marital status can be viewed in private rather than in the company of the throngs that resemble the characters depicted in this fine little film. Based on the novel 'Five Roundabouts to Heaven' by John Bingham and well adapted to the screen by Oren Moverman and director Ira Sachs, MARRIED LIFE is a dissection of the hallowed state of matrimony, and one that shows the creases and little holes that make so many marriages fail. it is set in the late 1940s, likely with the attempt to give some 'distance' to the plot, but the messages remain in comparing the tale to contemporary times.Narrated by perennial playboy bachelor Richard Langley (Pierce Brosnan), we are introduced to Harry Allen (Chris Cooper) who apparently has it all - big house, great job, sex-driven wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson), country home - but Harry has fallen in love with military widow Kay Nesbitt (Rachel McAdams). Harry respects and still 'loves' Pat, but finds in Kay the love he has felt missing from his marriage. He confides his desire to leave Pat to Richard who is surprised - until Richard meets the beautiful Kay. Not wanting to hurt Pat, Harry decides the only solution is to murder Pat so that he can then marry Kay: he researches poisons and buys a potion that he plans to place in Pat's ever-present 'digestive medicine' bottle. Harry and Kay continue their secret assignations in both Kay's home and Harry's nearby country home, but things begin to muddle as Richard falls for Kay, and Kay's attention shifts to Richard, and the devoted Pat is hiding her secret lover Tom (David Richmond-Peck). As the twists and turns surface, everything unwinds and the ending of the story comes as a surprise to everyone! The quartet of actors - Clarkson, Cooper, Brosnan, and McAdams - serve the story well and the flavor of the 1940s starts with superb opening credit images and carries through with the fine decors and attention to detail that don't seem to miss a beat in recreating the period. This is a difficult film to classify - it has comedy inherent in the absurdity of portions of the plot, it has drama in the core of the tale, and it has mystery as the surprises keep surfacing. The overall effect will be different for every viewer, depending on where in the marriage spectrum each viewer stands! Grady Harp