Starring Joan Allen and Anthony LaPaglia, A Good Marriage is a film based on Stephen King’s novella of the same name. Director Peter Askin while trying to retain the essence of the film failed to bring in enough thrill on screen, despite having a compelling plot.
Story: In the opening sequence, you are introduced with Bob and Darcy (Anthony LaPaglia and Joan Allen), a happily married couple who are celebrating their 25th marriage anniversary with family and friends. Their happiness and lavish lifestyle are quite evident as Bob is a successful accountant, who loves his family a lot.
While they appear to be the perfect middle-aged couple sharing such a long life together, Darcy accidentally discovers something in their garage that suddenly shakes the foundation of their life together.
Here is a clip of the film ‘A Good Marriage’
In fact, she finds a hidden box filled with ID cards of women who are believed to be victims of a serial killer. Devastated with her findings, Darcy maps the dates of women went missing as per news on the internet with the dates Bob was away from home for business trips.
I believe A Good Marriage falls with the dilemma of Darcy in moving further: either let the truth out for everyone or live with a murderer almost every day to save their marriage. Moreover, the climax of the film seems to be very rushed when you kept on waiting for a twist to happen.
Stephen King is known for his thriller and horror stories and novels, but somehow his vision has not been translated by filmmakers, although here he himself writes the screenplay. I have not read the book, but judging the film from an audience point of view, I don’t think A Good Marriage is the best adaptation you see in recent times.
A Good Marriage (a psychological thriller film)
When her husband is away on one of his business trips, Darcy looks for batteries in the garage. Instead, she discovers some strange details about her husband. This horrifying discovery has the potential to end a good marriage of more than twenty years.
Genre: Thriller
Starring: Joan Allen, Anthony LaPaglia, Stephen Lang, Kristen Connolly, Will Rogers, Theo Stockman
Director: Peter Askin
Screenplay by Stephen King
Release Date/Year: October 3, 2014
