A Good Marriage (2014)

Directed by Peter Askin. Starring Joan Allen, Anthony LaPaglia, Cara Buono, Stephen Lang, Kristen Connolly. [R]

Dour, tedious thriller has a pregnant premise, but proceeds in a plodding fashion that’s inorganic and altogether unconvincing. Like an arty but airless Lifetime Channel domestic drama potboiler (right down to the home-staging décor of the domicile where most of the action is set), the film introduces the viewer to a seemingly comfortable marriage between Allen and LaPaglia, but the husband turns out to have a dark side that makes the wife question everything about their relationship, and puts her at risk of incurring the wrath of the man she no longer feels like she knows anymore. Rather than embrace tawdry melodramatics or attempt a psychological battle of wills, it spills its secrets too early, goes overboard with the it-was-all-a-dream fake-outs, and dies an early death during the lengthy denouement that seems primed to unearth a new dark secret or juicy surprise, but…no. Screenplay by Stephen King from his same-named novella; the title is even sometimes shown as Stephen King’s A Good Marriage.

36/100