The Rich Man's Wife
The Rich Man's Wife has proven one of my many theories about films: the ending of a film is crucial. Nothing can destroy a film more than a horrible ending. One example of a film not doing this is the brilliant The Usual Suspects. In that particular case, the film was made more original and complex by its surprising ending. However, Director/writer Amy Holden Jones seemed to want to copy the surprise of The Usual Suspects, and in doing so, ended up ruining her perfectly good film.
I won't tell you what the ending of the film is, but I will say this: it was totally unnecessary. Everything in the film was working up until the last minute. The characters were believable and the plot was pretty interesting. However, the final shot is inconsistent with the rest of the picture. After watching The Rich Man's Wife, I sat and thought about the film for an hour or so. Slowly, the smile on my face dropped to a frown as I realized that Jones had tricked me into believing that the ending had something to do with the rest of the movie. I studied the film, and watched it again just to see if I didn't miss anything. Alas, I didn't miss a single thing. I was very disappointed and turned off by the disrespectful nature of the director. I guess she thought audiences wouldn't think about the film and love it.
I wanted to give this film a 3-star rating, only because I want people to go and rent the movie. However, I couldn't do that--it wouldn't be fair. I do recommend seeing this film just for the pleasure of contemplating how the ending could possibly mix in with the first hour and a half.
Anyway, enough of the ending. For the first hour and a half, The Rich Man's Wife plays out in a sleek and suspenseful way. It had thrills and chills, and a very good lead actress. Halle Berry plays Josie Potenza, the wife of a rich, restaurant owner (Christopher McDonald). Her husband doesn't pay much attention to her, and he sleeps around with other women. Consequently, she sleeps around, mainly with Jake Golden (Clive Owen). This sets up a plot contrivance later in the picture which may seem to redeem the final scene of the film. But it doesn't. One day, Josie and her husband decide to take a vacation up in a secluded location. However, Tony (McDonald) is called away, leaving Josie to herself.
While driving home late at night, Josie's car breaks down. A stranger, who tells her his name is Cole Wilson (Peter Greene, from The Mask and, wouldn't you know it?, The Usual Suspects), gives her a ride home and tells her that he will come by in the morning and fix her car. This sets up the main plot spin, as Josie accidentally comments that she wants her husband dead (in her defense, she was drinking). Cole, being the generous, caring man that he is, says that he will kill her husband.
The rest of plot is pretty simple, and almost predictable in a way. However, the power of the stars and the style of the film redeems the clichèd plot. Halle Berry is terrific in her performance. She is a strong woman who is trying to survive in a man's world. One line in the film sums up her character completely, something to the effect of: "Why do you always need a man to tell you what to do?" Her character is quite well developed, and Berry portrays her well. Christopher McDonald is good in his role, although he tends to overact a lot. Peter Greene is good as usual and makes an interesting bad guy. Clive Owen is not quite up to par with the rest of the cast, as he "expects" things to happen (a flaw many young actors tend to have). But three supporting roles are the scene-stealers. Charles Hallahan and Frankie Faison play two cops trying to figure out what is happening. Their racial comments and other funny quips add some humor to the dark tone of the film. Clea Lewis (from TV's Ellen) is the big scene-stealer, although she isn't in many of them. Her character acts like a ditz, but proves to be smarter than she appears. It's a pretty good performance.
The Rich Man's Wife is rated R for strong violence and language. I can see why Amy Holden Jones wanted to reproduce the same word-of-mouth that The Usual Suspects had, but I don't think she did it in the right way. The dialogue is usually smart, although sometimes cheesy (my favorite: "Say hello to Mr. Wall!"), but the choppiness and unclearness of scenes degrade the film's potential. Perhaps if Jones had edited the film more clearly, the ending would have worked. But as is, the film is energy-filled and exciting; working until the last disappointing moments.