Goodbye Lover

Director Roland Joffe and writers Ron Peer, Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow reshuffle film noir conventions in a treacherously convoluted tale of a libidinous real estate agent (Patricia Arquette), her alcoholic husband (Dermot Mulroney) and the husband’s brother (Don Johnson), with whom she’s having an affair. Joffe and company clearly intend a “stylish thriller,” but it’s all style and no substance. Snickery in-jokes abound and the plot is thicker than concrete—and almost as opaque. Still, somehow, this ungainly contraption is perversely enjoyable; Joffe gives it a candy-apple shine and the high-caliber cast has fun with the script—especially Ellen DeGeneres as a sour-faced cop and Ray McKinnon as her dweeb partner.