It's America in the 1950s and almost everyone has a cigarette between their fingertips. Over lunch and smoke swirls, Harry (Chris Cooper) tells friend Richard (Pierce Brosnan) that he wants to leave his wife (Patricia Clarkson) for the much younger Kay (Rachel McAdams). But there's more to this story than the love quadrangle that it's about to become - Harry is plotting his wife's murder to spare her the pain of divorce. In Harry's eyes, it's a mercy killing.

Pairing cool, highly credible character actor Cooper with the rather uncool ex-James Bond seems odd, but Brosnan's a real surprise, delivering an excellent, understated performance. As Richard, Irishman Brosnan is also the narrator, and his only error is that he doesn't bother with an American accent, as he's supposed to be the childhood buddy of the obviously American Harry. As Harry's wife, Clarkson is also superb - as is David Wenham, who appears briefly. But the team's let down by the miscast Rachel McAdams. Kay - whose bottle-blonde look is pure femme fatale - is a war widow, but McAdams shows little of her underlying pain. She's here because she's gorgeous, but lacks the gravitas to make Kay real.

The film mixes genres with varied results. It's part film noir, part subtle black comedy, part thriller, and part drama - and you can see the seams. But it's still an absorbing, dialogue-driven flick that builds to a conclusion that's not quite as satisfying as the film is as a whole. Married Life poses a question: how well do you know the person that shares your bed? Its sombre vision of the 1950s is not essential big screen viewing. See it on DVD instead . just don't watch it with your spouse.