Married Life (Blu-ray + BD Live), starring Pierce Brosnan: DVDNear.com

Married Life (Blu-ray + BD Live)

List Price: ~~$19.99~~
Our Price: $5.00
You Save: $14.99 (75%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.38 (click here)
Category: Blu-ray
See more DVD releases

Compare Prices for Married Life (Blu-ray + BD Live)

Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD Cover Information

Actor: Pierce Brosnan
Brand: BROSNAN,PIERCE
Blu-ray: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Arabic (Dubbed); English (Dubbed); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: 2008-09-02
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Movie Reviews of Married Life (Blu-ray + BD Live)

Movie Review: "Did We Build Our Happiness On The Unhappiness of Others...?"
Summary: 4 Stars

Name-checking the top grade cast in "Married Life" - a sort of 40's/50's film noir tale of marital shenanigans - will be enough to draw most movie lovers in. And while Patricia Clarkson and Rachel McAdams are typically lovely, deep and believable in their roles, it's the two men - Pierce Brosnan and Chris Cooper - who really get to shine.

Its directed by IRA SACHS and co-adapted by him and ORAN MOVERMAN from the 1953 book by JOHN BINGHAM called "Five Roundabouts To Heaven".

Narrated by Richard (Brosnan's character), you just know you're going to enjoy this story when you hear him casually say, "I always thought marriage was a mild kind of illness...like the Flu or Chicken Pox...to which I was safely immune". Brosnan's tone throughout the narration changes - at first it's sly and laidback and suave - so you're not sure if he's the good guy or the bad guy - or both - and nor do you want to know - because in this clever and beautifully revealing film, the finding out is half the fun...

And who out there in movie land doesn't want to see a film with Chris Cooper in it? Harry (Cooper's character) is in a stagnating but not entirely loveless marriage to Pat (Clarkson). Then along comes the young, alive and beautiful Kay (McAdams) who stirs Harry's very soul - but alas also grabs the loins of the caddish Richard (Brosnan) - his lifetime buddy and pal. Friendships are tested, plots are formed and everyone drinks loads of scotch and smokes acres of cigarettes and acts as if nothing is wrong...

The boys as you can imagine - given meaty material - are great. Warm, cold, up, down - Cooper layers his performance - and he slyly fools you too by doing so. Brosnan is still great eye-candy and effortlessly charming - caddish one moment - genuine the next - he plays his character both ways - and does it very, very well. McAdams is enough to make most grown men weak at the knees and Patricia Clarkson - who probably has the least likeable of roles - makes you empathize with her character - see her as a real person - a great performance from a genuine class act. In fact, you can 'feel' how all the actors rise to the evolving story - and you suspect they thoroughly enjoyed working off each other while making this intelligently written little gem.

Visually - it's period Americana - were in MAD MEN territory here. "Married Life" is gorgeous to look at - and very "Shawshank" in places on the outdoor scenes - an absolute blast to view on Blu Ray.

The real unexpected pleasure, however, comes in 3 fully realised Alternate Endings that are almost as enjoyable as the entire movie - and without spoiling it - they take the story to other places - and brilliantly too. Brosnan - in particular - is exceptionally good.

There's a commentary by director and co-script writer Ira Sachs, but it's a damn shame there isn't an on-set segment - because here's actors and a movie you admire - and it would also have been just great to get the writer and director's perspective in interview outside of listening to the entire commentary.

Not a masterpiece for sure, but a great little watch nonetheless and one that deserves your attention.

"Did We Build Our Happiness On The Unhappiness of Others...?" Brosnan asks towards the end of his voice over - watch this 'classy' little noir thriller to find out...

Write your own review

More Married Life (Blu-ray + BD Live) reviews:
1

Summary of Married Life (Blu-ray + BD Live)

Genre: Drama
Rating: PG
Release Date: 2-SEP-2008
Media Type: Blu-Ray

Far too many period productions look right, but feel wrong. Set in 1949, Married Life doesn't just bring the post-war era to vivid life with cigarettes and cocktails aplenty; it even plays like a product of the time. In that respect, it calls to mind AMC's Mad Men, except Ira Sachs (Forty Shades of Blue) takes a lighter tone towards domestic disharmony. In this well-scrubbed suburban world, middle-class wives, like Pat (Patricia Clarkson), build their lives around their husbands. Pat and Harry (Chris Cooper) seem happy, but Harry confesses to his pal, Richard (narrator Pierce Brosnan), that the spark is gone. He plans to leave Pat for vibrant young war widow Kay (Rachel McAdams in a role that recalls The Notebook). Once Richard, a notorious ladies man, gets a gander at the platinum blonde, he secretly sets out to win her affections, while Harry plots to take Pat out of the picture. Married Life almost simulates one of Alfred Hitchcock?s pessimistic disquisitions on matrimony, yet Harry and Richard seek less hurtful means to achieve their goals. Though women's lib has yet to hit the suburbs, Pat and Kay harbor desires of their own, and the best-laid plans soon go awry. Though Kay could use further development, this ensemble hums along almost as harmoniously as the quartet in Starting Out in the Evening. Along with co-writer Oren Moverman (I'm Not There), Sachs transforms John Bingham?s 1953 novel, Five Roundabouts to Heaven, into an insightful treatise on love, marriage, and fidelity. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Similar DVD Movies

Raw Heat
Raw; Release date: 2002-09-24; DVD
Best price: $0.51
Price in other shops: ~~$14.98~~

Laws of Attraction
NLV; Release date: 2004-08-24; Published: 2004-08-01; DVD
Best price: $0.94
Price in other shops: ~~$5.97~~

Morning Glory [Blu-ray]
PAR; Release date: 2011-03-08; Blu-ray
Best price: $13.11
Price in other shops: ~~$26.98~~

Easy Virtue [Blu-ray]
Sony; Release date: 2009-09-15; Blu-ray
Best price: $8.39
Price in other shops: ~~$19.99~~

The Ghost Writer [Blu-ray]
SUM; Release date: 2010-08-03; Blu-ray
Best price: $12.29
Price in other shops: ~~$40.99~~

The Heist
HBO Home Video; Release date: 2005-08-30; DVD
Best price: $1.79
Price in other shops: ~~$5.98~~

After the Sunset [Blu-ray]
Release date: 2009-07-07; Blu-ray
Best price: $8.59
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

State of Play [Blu-ray]
CROWE,RUSSELL; Release date: 2009-09-01; Blu-ray
Best price: $9.29
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

Evelyn
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2003-04-15; DVD
Best price: $10.22
Price in other shops: ~~$14.98~~

The Time Traveler's Wife [Blu-ray]
NEW Line Home Video; Release date: 2010-02-09; Published: 2010-02-01; Blu-ray
Best price: $7.35
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

Married Life (Blu-ray + BD Live)