A Good Marriage

Plot synopsis:
Darcy Anderson has been married to Bob, an accountant from Portland, Maine, for 27 years. They have a happy yet humdrum relationship, running a mail-order business selling and appraising rare coins. One day, while Bob is away on business, Darcy goes into the garage to search for batteries. When she rummages through Bob's belongings, she stumbles across a pornographic magazine showing sadomasochistic images. Unnerved by the magazine – and that it is in Bob's possession – Darcy finds a secret compartment behind the garage's baseboard and makes a more horrific discovery: a small box containing the ID cards of Marjorie Duvall, a victim of a serial killer called "Beadie".
Bob 'phones Darcy and senses her distress. Afterwards, Darcy Googles Beadie and cross-checks Bob's business records with the locations of the murders, finding that Bob was in close proximity to most of the crimes. When Darcy wakes up the next morning, she finds that Bob has deduced her discovery and returned home early. He calmly explains his insanity to his horrified wife, recounting how he and a sadistic friend named Brian Delahanty – nicknamed "BD", from which Beadie's name was derived – planned a school shooting as teenagers. Delahanty was hit by a truck before they could carry it out, but Bob claims he had "infected" him with "certain ideas," resulting in his homicidal urges.
Bob claims that after he started his family with Darcy, his murderous alter ego receded and he was not driven to kill again for several years. He pleads to Darcy to put the matter behind them, for the sake of herself and their family. After mulling it over, Darcy feigns an agreement to do so, on the condition that he bury Duvall's ID cards deep in the woods. Bob believes Darcy has put the truth behind her, however she is trying to think of a way to stop him from killing again. A few months after Darcy's discoveries, an elated Bob finds a rare 1955 doubled die cent, and the couple goes out to Portland to celebrate. When Bob becomes drunk from champagne, Darcy devises a plan to murder him.
Upon arriving home, Darcy has Bob fetch some Perrier while she waits for him upstairs, ostensibly for sex. However, when Bob arrives, Darcy pushes him down the stairs, breaking his arm, neck, and back. She then manages to shove a plastic bag and a dish cloth down his throat, killing him. After removing the evidence of murder, Darcy manages to convince the authorities and the children that Bob died in a drunken accident, and isn't suspected of committing any foul play. Darcy assumes the ordeal is over.
However, not long after Bob is buried, a retired detective named Holt Ramsey visits the house. Ramsey spent years investigating the Beadie murders and had questioned Bob. Ramsey tells Darcy that he suspected Bob was the killer, since his Chevrolet Suburban was seen in the vicinity of each victim. Darcy realizes that Ramsey has figured out her role in Bob's death. Once she admits the truth, Ramsey assures her that she "did the right thing" and leaves; before he does, she tells him about Delahanty. Darcy realizes that Bob was close to being caught and wasn't as smart as he thought he was. She also finds that she can now be at peace with herself.

Tags: murder

Review:
There are a few moments of confusion when Darcy (Joan Allen) starts to imagine what would happen if this secret were exposed but, in the end you figure what was and what wasn't and, just generally leave with a feeling of, okay well, it is what it is..
The reason that Stephen King is known as the master of horror is because the things he writes about are realistic enough for you to think this could happen to me.
Like any good King story this one keeps on on edge and you aren't sure if what you are seeing is real or imagined.
Even though author Stephen King's name is frequently used as a marketing tool, it might be damaging in the case of the film A Good Marriage, because the reference to the "Master of Horror" creates very different expectations to what this movie offers.
To start with, A Good Marriage isn't a horror film, but a boring thriller lacking of energy, suspense or atmosphere, and with weak performances from Joan Allen and Anthony LaPaglia.
To be fair, I haven't read the short story on which A Good Marriage is based, so I can't determine whether the problem comes "of origin", or whether the film couldn't find the proper angle to adapt the story in a more attractive way.
I used to be a fan of King's in previous decades, and I know that his prose is particularly difficult to be translated to cinema, because his characteristic literary "voice" is the first thing to be eliminated when writing a screenplay, something which leaves us with a distillation of characters and concepts which aren't always enough to support a film, unless the movie counts with the necessary ingredients (style, atmosphere, performances) to compensate those things which were lost during the transition.
I was disappointed to read that the screenplay for this was actually written by Stephen King himself.
I was entirely ready to chastise whoever had adapted his novella because, ironically, it felt nothing like a King movie whatsoever.
The character of Bob would have to be the most boring serial killer I've ever seen in a movie.
I watched this today and I was on the edge of my chair, I thought it was very good and I highly recommend this movie.
Don't get me wrong, some Stephan King books have translated into film's quite well, however "The Good Marriage" is not one of those.I'll start off by saying I did not read the story that this film is based on.
I really feel bad bashing it, because I wanted to like this movie.
A wife's seemingly good marriage disintegrates after she uncovers her husbands dark secret.This is a glossy thriller not unlike the plethora of them produced in the 1980's and 1990's.
I was SO excited to see this adaptation after reading it in Full Dark, No Stars - boy, was I disappointed.I even told my mother, who is and has been a massive Stephen King fan probably as long as I've been alive, not to bother, that it was a serious disappointment.I also feel that it was dreadfully miscast.
In the beginning of the book, Stephen King made sure we knew what a good man Bob is - didn't do that enough in the movie.
Plus, I don't think Anthony LaPaglia makes a very good Bob.Yeah, the movie definitely doesn't portray Bob as a nice guy, more like a smarmy used car salesman.
I read the story before I saw the movie and although there were some changes to the script that I thought were not improvements, I was still surprised to see the film was enjoyable and was a great psychological exploration of what a woman in that horrible dilemma might go through.
The story is not about the horrors of serial killers or the supernatural horrors one might expect from King but its about the emotional horror of choosing to live with a secret of unimaginable bearing.
I think older ladies might enjoy this film, probably more those who don't much like men, it feels like a TV movie and is easy to watch though incredibly boring.
A Good Marriage is the latest Stephen King adaptation to hit the film realm and it does so with a splat.
The film stars Anthony Lapaglia and Joan Allen as a happily married couple that have their lives turned upside down when the husband is discovered to be a serial killer.
There is nothing new to the story and honestly, it doesn't even seem like King's work.
I rented this movie thinking "Oh cool, It's a Stephen King movie, It's going to terrify the hell out of me and be gory"..
The idea of the story sounds intriguing, sure, an interesting mystery/thriller subverted with murder and a cheating spouse, but ideas are only grandiose with this movie.
No hair out of place, a couple who have been married 25 years yet still have sex, still love each other and take pride in how they look.That all comes to a screeching halt when Darcy stumbles across the fact that her husband is a serial killer.My thoughts are that this film is watchable but I wouldn't rate it as particularly good.
But it never comes together to feel like a completely movie.
I have a bachelor's degree in philosophy, I have a quote, "you can learn just as much from a bad teacher as you can from a good teacher", I have spent hundreds of hours playing idle games, I have maxed out the timer on dozens of other games at 99:99:99 just leveling up on rpg games, I have read numerous Stephen King books (old school and new school), and I am very familiar with how they translate into movies, and I have never, ever, never, never, ever rated a movie with a rating of 1.I wouldn't even dare you to watch this movie because it'll tempt King to sell books of blank pages and movies of complete and utter nothingness.
A Good Marriage is a very entertaining, watchable movie.Due to this review,I would of passed on this,but I watched the movie before I read the review.Lucky me.As I try to understand why this movie was given a thumbs down,I cannot come to any rhyme or reason why this movie was tossed in the outhouse.Maybe IMDB should review the reviewer..
It may sound like an exaggeration to call it the worst movie for all time but this, for me, is it.
The dialogue is just odd, nothing anybody says at any point sounds like something a real person would say, the acting is god-awful, Anthony LaPaglia's American accent is laughable at best, the plot is nonexistent and there are absolutely no twists or turns at any point.
A little too much time of Allen wondering around the house but if you have read the story, it is understandable.
It is a decent movie with decent acting and a good story.
To be honest, there is almost nothing Stephen King about this movie at all.
I have read a few of his books, seen a ton of the movies based on his stuff, and this movie is missing that extra touch that makes his stories special.Unfortunately it is neither scary, nor exciting.
And most of these reviews sound like these people want to be movie critics but didn't make it.
I think maybe if you're a more mature person who can sit through A movie like this then great maybe this will be a nice simple thriller for you to see as it was for me.
It's not really like other Stephen king films but it's different so.
After 25 years of a good marriage, what will Darcy Anderson (Joan Allen) do once she discovers her husband's sinister secret?
This film is often listed as Stephen King's "A Good Marriage".
That note aside, however, this is actually a fairly decent one.Unlike King's usual horror themes of childhood or the supernatural, this really touches on what could be a real situation: what if a wife finds out her husband is a killer?
The only reason this movie has any good feedback is because Stephen King made it.
A Good Marriage: Based on a Stephen King story with a screenplay by King.
Joan Allen is married to Anthony LaPaglia for 25 years and suddenly finds evidence which suggests that he's a Serial Killer and a really brutal one at that.
I have a feeling "Uncle Stevie" wanted to do his own take on those kind of often cheesy "thrillers" and somehow through his script (based on a story from 'Full Dark, No Stars') found a way to make it an actual tense and weird dramatic thriller with two excellent performances.I say 'weird' since a lot of this comes off not unlike a dream at times - there's a whole bedroom conversation Joan Allen has with Anthony LaPaglia that I thought at first was an Ambien-induced nightmare of some kind - and there's a whole question of morality to the thing.
It shouldn't be some surprise that Allen's character finds out her husband has killed people and has been hiding about it for a very long time.
There's even a scene near the end in a hospital room - and all the more incredible since you know King is hit or miss at endings - which is flat out great.So for a trashy TV movie-of-the-week kind of deal, it's almost a minor miracle this is as good as it is, genuinely so, not a 'so-bad-it's-haha' thing.
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Darcy (Joan Allen) and Bob Anderson (Anthony LaPaglia) appear like the perfect married couple, with their several children all having done quite well for themselves and one even preparing to tie the knot.
As is the case with this adaptation of a short story from one of his novellas, although how he managed to make something so challenging so short, I don't know.It's the sort of thing that could only have come from his far fetched, twisted mind, and the tone is as dark as the subject matter decrees it should be, which makes it an uneasy, unsettling journey into something that takes a dark imagination to enjoy.
I haven't seen a new movie based on Stephen King material in awhile, and saw this off Netflix, so I thought I'd give this a go.
Overall, it's a major let-down.Looking into this further, I read at Wikipedia that Stephen King based his book on the Dennis Rader AKA The "BTK Killer".
Well, that being said, if you want to see a much better film about BTK (there are at least 3 or 4 others), I would recommend watching the made-for-CBS TV movie called "Hunt for the BTK Killer" starring Robert Forster.
It's a "CSI"-style show, with a compelling performance by Gregg Henry as Rader.This movie isn't much more than a Lifetime Movie Network film; a BTK story from the wife's perspective, and really didn't find much interesting or compelling about this piece at all..
So no, not 8, to most, give you another extra star, a 4 is being very kind to you.The acting wasn't bad, but it's really odd how the movie ended with how years of love, could be destroyed with one kill just because of fear.
A GOOD MARRIAGE is another recent horror/thriller based on a story by Stephen King, and again it's one of the worst adaptations of his work.
The story is drab and drawn out, dragging on forever, essentially a two-hander between Joan Allen's suspicious housewife and Anthony LaPaglia as her mysterious husband.
What plays out is anything but interesting; a dragged out story of serial killing and cover-up, one that attempts to shock with twists and the like but is forever boring.
It starts with a lot of promise and I was very engaged, watching this picture perfect couple with their 'good marriage' and wondering what was going to happen to shatter their world.
Upon Darcy's discovery that her husband is in fact a serial killer, she reacts like anyone would in the same position - with confusion, shock, disbelief, reversion and panic.
At first, I wondered if we were supposed to question Darcy's morality and that King was playing with us, and actually, she was the evil one, but as the movie progressed that clearly wasn't true.
Having said this, the strongest part of the movie was definitely Joan Allen's performance as Darcy, which I can't fault.
I think it had the potential to be really good, but more thought needed to be put into it, and I'm not sure if the lack of consideration is due to the directors/producers or from the original material by King.
As a Stephen King fan I was rushing out to see this one, unfortunately it does not lead up to expectations!Firstly there are a few plot holes to get out of the way, for example a detective finds out about "Beedee" somehow by combining the names "Bob" and "Darcy" - I still have no idea how Bob and Darcy makes Beedee and this is never explained.
Literally she finds out the husband is a killer, cries for a while then **SPOILER** kills him and the movie is literally over.
I was astonished at how little plot this movie had, you could make it into a 30 minute short!As far as acting goes, it was fine there'll be no awards for sure, but it wasn't terrible.
I liked Anthony Lapgalia in Without a Trace, and Joan Allen is Pamela Lundy from the Jason Bourne movies.This was a good movie until about 20 minutes in.
I kept thinking to myself, "Normal, hard-working people, happy family, solid marriage - I get it already." I honestly wasn't expecting a lot from this movie.
Here, he's spent a huge chunk of his life chasing down a serial killer only to be forced to reexamine his own life and learn that things aren't always so cut-and-dried or black-and-white as they initially seem.In the final analysis, "A Good Marriage" may have been too real and down-to-earth for Stephen King loyalists and people accustomed to high drama, but if you can appreciate an intimate, subtle, slow burning character study I think you will be pleasantly surprised..
Here is the plot, man and wife appear to have an idyllic marriage, in the book apparently the stress is on what a good man Bob is, unfortunately in the film he comes across as smarmy and creepy but not in a horror type creepy.
He turns out to be a rapist serial killer and the wife finds out, to keep the good name and protect the children she carries on with the marriage until she kills him by pushing him downstairs and then suffocating him.
dull.I'm not going to tell you not to watch this, because It's King and Joan Allen.
From a Stephen King short story, A GOOD MARRIAGE falls into a minor position on a long list of notable material.
This story comes from King's 2010 collection Full Dark, No Stars.
Bob Anderson(Anthony LaPaglia)and his wife Darcy(Joan Allen)are a pretty well-to-do couple.
From the outside looking in...the Anderson's have a good marriage.Darcy enjoys and aids her husbands obsession of collecting rare pennies.
Bob leaves to service one of his customers and his wife is searching in the home garage for batteries for her TV remote when she literally stumbles on evidence that points to over-friendly Bob being a homicidal predator...and serial killer.Things get a bit twisted as Darcy begins living in disbelief and horror not knowing how to confront her husband.
I was attracted to this movie after finding out not only was it based on a Stephen King story, but that Stephen King himself adapted the screenplay.
For one thing, the characters are somewhat smarter than you usually get in a movie like this...
Some have criticized the Joan Allen character for not acting right away after finding out her husband's secret, but I think most people in her situation would at first find it hard to do ANYTHING.
It runs just short of 90 minutes which is appropriate.Set in Maine, naturally, Joan Allen as Darcy Anderson and Anthony LaPaglia as Bob Anderson along with their grown son and daughter are celebrating 25 years of marriage.
Anyway, this is King's story so I'm with it...)When she finds the box of batteries she finds a few other things which surprise her, and which get her to wonder about her husband of 25 years, and whether she really knows him at all.
This all happens during the first 30 minutes or so and most of the movie is her dealing with the revelations.As a Stephen King movie you expect it to be a bit strange and it is, but in a dark and entertaining way.
Interesting drama with the flaw being that one reaches a point when you can't explain whether there is fantasy or reality going on.All seems well as a couple are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary only for the wife to discover that her husband is the serial killer that has been terrorizing New England.The confusion comes in when we don't realize if she is imagining what he is doing to her, especially when she wakes up after a dream sequence.
"A good marriage" is a movie that goes with the flow.
In short is settles around a loving wife which has to discover, that her beloved husband is responsible for the murder of several women, leaving her with the choice how to continue.Unfortunately, the film isn't really thrilling.
Yesterday, I watched the Keanu Reeves film "Knock, Knock", and while I liked its second act a lot more, the same can't be said of "A Good Marriage".
If this film had resembled anything like an actual movie about a Serial Killer, then the fact that it doesn't feel like Stephen King might not matter so much.**1/2 out of ****