Chloe

This is perhaps the most commercial work yet from director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter); at times, it’s also Egoyan’s clumsiest work yet. Still, Amanda Seyfried is quite good as the title character, a call girl who gets hired by a jealous wife (Julianne Moore) to spy on her husband (Liam Neeson). Things get complicated fast, culminating with Chloe and the wife sharing a bed, and Chloe becoming obsessed. Egoyan is always an interesting director, and he makes good-looking pictures. The performances by the three leads are all first rate—good enough, in fact, to make you overlook the derivative turns the screenplay takes in the final act. It starts as an intriguing look at jealousy and infidelity, and becomes a Fatal Attraction rip-off. Neeson’s wife, Natasha Richardson, died during filming, and he had to complete the film while still in mourning. (The screenplay was altered to accommodate the actor.)