Based on the 1953 novel "Five Roundabouts to Heaven" by John Bigham, "Married Life" - co-written by Oren Moverman and Ira Sachs, and directed by Sachs - is a throwback to all those florid film noir melodramas in which a bored husband (Chris Cooper) plots to do away with his wife (Patricia Clarkson) so he can start a life with his mistress, a leggy, blonde widow (Rachel McAdams) whose husband died in the war. Pierce Brosnan plays Cooper's best friend, a womanizing bachelor who, naturally, falls in love with the mistress, and who provides the overly-sincere, laughably self-conscious narration for the tale.
Though this kind of thing's been done much better in other films ("Double Indemnity," "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "How to Murder Your Wife" spring immediately to mind), solid performances from an A-list cast, rich period detail (the movie is set in 1949), and an interesting subtext about marriage meaning different things to different people ultimately make it palatable.
Though this kind of thing's been done much better in other films ("Double Indemnity," "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "How to Murder Your Wife" spring immediately to mind), solid performances from an A-list cast, rich period detail (the movie is set in 1949), and an interesting subtext about marriage meaning different things to different people ultimately make it palatable.