Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- sleek
- cynical
- tense
- late night thriller viewing
- crime movie marathon
What critics said
Critics generally found the film slick and competently plotted, with effective suspense and strong performances, but overly dependent on contrived surprises and less pleasurable than its Hitchcockian source.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Steven Taylor discovers Emily's affair with David Shaw and turns the marriage's collapse into a murder scheme.
Steven's millionaire status, financial world connections, and access to Emily's trust fund directly enable his plan.
The film contrasts Manhattan wealth, designer interiors, and high society with blackmail, jealousy, and attempted murder.
Steven, Emily, David, and the investigating detective are connected through overlapping motives, schemes, and concealed intentions.
Films like A Perfect Murder, and why
dial m for murder
shared domestic suspense, marital betrayal, calculated murder scheme, and adaptation from frederick knott's stage thriller tradition
gone girl
shared wealthy dysfunctional marriage, sexual infidelity, suspicion, and polished psychological thriller atmosphere
unfaithful
shared affluent domestic setting, jealousy, extramarital desire, and escalating crime thriller tension
the last seduction
shared cynical neo-noir mood, urban criminal plotting, and morally compromised protagonists
Movie Details
- Director
- Andrew Davis
- Release Date
- 1998-06-05
- Runtime
- 107 min
- Rating
- 6.6 / 10 (1610)
Cast
- Michael Douglas
- Gwyneth Paltrow
- Viggo Mortensen
- David Suchet
- Sarita Choudhury
- Michael P. Moran
- Novella Nelson
- Constance Towers
- Will Lyman
- Maeve McGuire
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is A Perfect Murder about?
- A possessive Manhattan millionaire converts his wife's affair into a meticulously engineered murder plot, only to entangle himself in a dangerous web of competing motives.
- What is A Perfect Murder like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of A Perfect Murder as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is A Perfect Murder violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in A Perfect Murder as mild.
- What did critics think of A Perfect Murder?
- Critics generally found the film slick and competently plotted, with effective suspense and strong performances, but overly dependent on contrived surprises and less pleasurable than its Hitchcockian source.
- Which films are like A Perfect Murder?
- Films with a similar feel include dial m for murder, gone girl, unfaithful, and the last seduction.
- How long is A Perfect Murder?
- A Perfect Murder runs 107 minutes.
- Where can I watch A Perfect Murder?
- In United States, A Perfect Murder streams on fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel.
