Frankly,
you probably wouldn’t want to see Stephen King’s idea of a bad marriage. For
twenty-five years, Bob and Darcy Anderson’s union has indeed been pretty strong. Then
she started to realize she married a coin collecting accountant from Maine. Her
suspicion the loyal hubbie might be a serial killer does not help much either.
Pillow talk gets awkward in Stephen King’s
A Good Marriage (trailer
here),
which opens this Friday in New York.
Good
old Bob Anderson has always been faithful to Darcy and a reliable provider for
their now grown children. She always thought his only quirk was his weekend
trips scouring estates sales for collectible coins. Then she happens across his
secret stash in the garage. Let’s just say there are no Buffalo Head nickels in
there. Unfortunately, Mrs. Anderson is terrible at keeping secrets. Almost
immediately, Mr. Anderson realizes what happened and promises to reform, but
his wife remains highly conflicted and unnerved, for obvious reasons.
Directed
by Peter Askin and adapted by King himself, from a short story in Full Dark, No Stars (hence the name in
the title, a la Mary Shelly or Bram Stoker), SK’s AGM should be an event for his fans. It is his first
screenplay since Pet Cemetery way
back in 1989—and it is a pretty good one, but it might be overshadowed by the
Rader family controversy. Recently the daughter of the BTK Killer, on whom the “Beattie”
serial killer in SK’s AGM is
admittedly based, objected to the film on the grounds it is insensitive to her
father’s victims. Understandably, King has diplomatically taken exception,
especially since none of the victim families have objected.
Let’s
not kid ourselves—every serial killer movie is exploitative to some extent, but
SK’s AGM is much less so than most.
All of Bob Anderson’s foul deeds are scrupulously left off screen. Instead, King’s
adaptation is more of an old school claustrophobic thriller, in the tradition
of Sorry, Wrong Number. Viewers do
have to buy into the premise that Anderson’s closest family remained oblivious
to his predatory urges, but evidently that sort of thing happens.
Joan
Allen also helps sell it tremendously. Her Darcy Anderson is many things, but
she is not a passive victim. In fact, there is a moral ambiguity to her
performance that is quite effective. Anthony LaPaglia also hits the exact right
notes as “Beattie” Bob. Sure, he is a little off, but only just a little, so it
is relatively easy to believe he escaped suspicion for so long. It is not quite
Simon Oakland’s eleventh hour cameo in Psycho,
but Stephen Lang has some nice moments that come very late in the game.
