Halle Berry is The Rich Man's Wife, and she switches from being one smart, bad-ass woman to a stupid, unknowing wimp several times. Peter Greene is Cole, who starts out as a creepy but suave guy, then turns into a crazy weirdo, and then ends up being a hit man. Some of the twists in The Rich Man's Wife were done purposely, and others were not, leaving a mixed opinion by the end.

Halley Berry is sexy, and she is tough, but she also makes some really stupid mistakes. First, she is swayed by Cole to lie to the police in the first place, but that made the whole foundation of the movie. And then she tries escaping one of the men in on the whole deal, and runs right back to her house and locks herself in, even though she knows that the bad guy has gotten into her place before. She makes a bunch of other mistakes as well.

The movie is pretty predictable, and the plot at least turns out to be predictable. It's pretty obvious that Cole is the antagonist of the story, and it's pretty clear that he is going to kill Berry's husband. But what is refreshing about the story, much like in A Perfect Murder (which came out nearly two years after this did, is that that isn't the whole story. His psychotic behavior is partially a cover-up for a conspiracy, which involves people Berry knows and loves.

The Rich Man's Wife starts out sort of crumby, but it picks up pace as quickly as it does plot. It almost takes on a slasher movie mood, with creepy, racing music, dark "jumpy" scenes, and so forth. It's rather predictable, and enjoyable, and while it may seem like a slasher film in feeling, it is definitely not a slasher film. It just felt like it at times. The movie is worth it for the ending.

The Rich Man's Wife features some pretty standard stuff but maintains some pretty enjoyable scenes. All in all, it's worth a few dollars and two hours of your time.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.