The Perfect Couple

A movie set on Nantucket Island where a seemingly wealthy couple Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman) a writer and her doting husband Tag Winbury (Liev Schreiber) are hosting a wedding for their middle son Ben (Billy Howle) and his fiancé Amelia (Eve Hewson). She is deemed "less than" by Ben's parents as that she's not quite from the stock that their Ben is from, meaning, she's marrying up and Mom (at least) doesn't like it. Amelia's gregarious, beautiful and bubbly friend Merritt shows up and tensions rise. The older brother Thomas (Jack Reynor) and his pregnant wife Abby (the legendary Dakota Fanning!) are there also. He's a drinker and stirs up trouble while she's a silver tongued passive aggressive diva. The younger brother Will is only 17, soon to be 18 at which time he and his older brothers will inherit their trusts. A motive for murder as that someone ends up dead on what would have been the morning of the wedding.

It's a who dune it in the vein of Agatha Christy with a star studded cast. Here are the things I liked about it.

The story, it's interesting and it's told well.

The actors all did a very good job as could be expected since there are powerhouse actors in this. I loved Live Schriber, Eve Hewson, Billy Howle, Nikki Henry, Jack Reynor, Ishaan Khatter, Dakota Fanning and Isabelle Adjani.

The setting is lovely, I could watch it on mute and enjoy it.

What I didn't like about it.

The order: there was some disjointedness in the story telling but it was done to build tension so I get it, I just don't like it. I like my stories to have a beginning, middle and end that resolves nicely, this one starts kind of in the middle of a story but it's not that off putting.

Believe it or not, Nicole Kidman is miscast in this. She's starting to look a little "done" with cosmetic enhancements and the lower half of her face doesn't seem to move with her eyes. She's a little too old for the role she was cast in, a younger actress may have driven this up a little more for me. I found myself staring at her lips instead of listening to her lines. Also, she sighs like 30 times through the movie, I needed some other range of acting. I'm not that mad her overall, she still did a good job but there were some idiosyncrasies for me.

Should you watch it, yes! It's a great show, especially if you like "who done its."

I genuinely struggled through most of it to pay attention. Most of the characters seemed lacking something or just too completely Cliche. Nicole Kidman did an excellent job at playing the stuck up/ up tight rich wife that rules every part of the families life. A lot of people said Liev Schreiber just phoned his performance in but I thought he played his roll extremely well. It boils down to a rich family murder mystery where the cops seem completely incompetent. It's only after politely asking each subject and literally taking their word for it do we FINALLY find out who the killer is, which is barely explained what the motive was.

The critics have been cruel. The ratings are middling BUT they miss the point.

This is a typical Agatha Christie-esque who-dunnit.... take a group of people at a country house and have a dead body type of whodunnit.

So it becomes a sort of puzzle.

1. Attractive cast - check 2. Attractive locale - check 3. Characters with secrets - check 4. Characters with motive - check 5. Characters with opportunity - check 6. Murder victim who may or may not be a nice person - check 7. Big reveal at the end after assorted red herrings are resolved. - check

Now comes the hard part. Is it well done?

Actually I think it is. It does drag at little in the middle but the resolution works.

As for the cast. I think they all do quite well and Nicole Kidman whom I have never quite taken to actually surprises me. I usually find her cold but in this, at the end, I fully understood her character. Her much maligned accent actually makes sense in the circumstances.

Give it a try. It is not the greatest mystery ever but it is fun if you just go along for the ride.

In terms of writing, this series borders on satirical. The script is so unnatural and forced, it's almost comedic, and as a result, I found it hard to take any of the actors seriously. How Kidman and Schreiber got wrangled into this fiasco of a production is a more suspenseful mystery than that on which this entire series is based.

That said, it does keep you engaged. I don't regret watching the series, it's a pretty formulaic production, very predictable, and if you're looking for a lazy weekend show to binge, it will scratch that itch. You're not watching Citizen Kane, but what the hey. Sometimes we all just need to turn our brains off for a bit and be entertained.

Terrible plot, zero rhythm, police work so absurd it feels like a parody, and enough soap opera-level twists to make even telenovela writers confused. By the end of this "murder mystery," you're expecting Nicole Kidman to rip off her wig and dramatically reveal she's actually the long-lost brother of the bride's father.

By the time the grand finale rolls around and the murderer is revealed, you've stopped caring. So has the police. And the entire family, for that matter. Yet, I'm sure this will be the most-watched series of 2024-because viewers will hang on just to see how much worse it can get.