"The Wife"

Based on a book by Meg Wolitzer, this should have been better.  Clearly, Ms. Wolitzer didn't write the screenplay, which was flat.  That, coupled with some bizarre directorial choices (one important scene was overshadowed by a background extra) made this movie pretty ho-hum.  It shouldn't have been.  Glenn Close turns in another star performance, marked by her trademark subtlety, of a woman with a calm surface and inner turmoil.  She is paired with Jonathan Pryce who does a nice job balancing sweetness, aging addle-mindedness, a leering womanizer and a self-involved egoist.  Christian Slater also adds a good note in his somewhat slimy role as an avaricious biographer.  The rest of the cast is sadly forgettable but given the filming and the script choices were perhaps not given a chance to shine.  There is an odd timeline issue which bugged me.  The story is set mostly in 1992 with the characters at a college in 1958.  Assuming Joan is in her early 20s at the time and Joe is perhaps 30, that would make the characters 50s to 60s at the time portrayed in the film.  Both Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce are 71.  It was a small thing but it bugged me.  This kind of "casting who we want" regardless of the age of the character is the kind of Hollywood stunt which always irritates.  Bottom line:  this is a simple tale which could have been rich with underpinnings but the blatant way the tale unfolds left me guessing not at all.  Worth it for the lead performances, that's about it.