The new movie, "Married Life," stars Chris Cooper as a middle aged married man who falls for a woman much younger than his wife. That sounds pretty typical, but this film will turn out to be anything.

But "Married Life" is a mix of suspense, black comedy, and character driven drama. And it has a few things to say about friendship, marriage, betrayal, and murder.

Set in 1949, "Married Life" sometimes feels like a Hitchcock film; at other times like a stylish love story. Director Ira Sachs has a lot up his sleeve and if you can predict how this enjoyable movie ends, maybe you should switch careers and take up screen writing.

Chris Cooper plays Harry, a married businessman who thinks he's found true love with a young war widow. He tells this to Pierce Brosnan, his old friend, Richard, a confirmed bachelor and all around cad who scoffs at that notion until Rachel McAdams walks in, looking ever so much like Kim Novak in "Vertigo."

Richard is the narrator of the story, and we hear his thought when he sees McAdams. He can't understand why a beautiful woman like her would fall for a stodgy older guy like his friend Harry. Instantly, we see that Richard will use false pretenses to pursue the young woman his friend loves. At one point when Harry is not around he tells her, "It will be hard to build your happiness on the unhappiness of someone else." Namely, Harry's wife, played by Patricia Clarkson.

Meanwhile, Harry had decided he should kill his wife to spare her the pain of losing him. Harry obviously doesn't have a clue about much of anything, yet he's the character we feel the most sympathy for, and Cooper is superb and conveying the man's desperation and longing.

And Clarkson as the wife he's so concerned about has secrets of her own.

"Married Life" is not a great film, but it's a treat to watch the melodramatic pursuit of love done so stylishly.

---