An OK movie, but derivative and clichéd

Rating: 4/10 (27 January 2006)

Perhaps if this movie hadn't been hyped so greatly I would have enjoyed it more. Or perhaps if it hadn't been made by Woody Allen, one of my favorite directors and director of Crimes and Misdemeanors, I would have enjoyed it more. And perhaps if I hadn't just recently seen an episode of "Monk" in which an almost identical plot is enacted (with slightly different results), I would have enjoyed it more. As it was, with Brian Cox and Scarlett Johannsen, two actors I enjoy immensely, and my favorite director, and tremendous reviews, I had very high hopes. They were dashed.
The movie starts well but all in all it is a rehash of Crimes with younger people, and very derivative of today's crop of mystery and forensic TV shows. In fact, having been primed by the likes of CSI to believe that police are godlike in their ability to detect things like the pregnancy of a cadaver, the ineptitude of the police in this movie is a little jarring.
All in all, not up to my expectations. I think The Talented Mr. Ripley is a far better movie about essentially the same thing. And Crimes and Misdemeanors is a more believable Woody Allen movie about essentially the same thing.