An ode to Hollywood movies of the 40s and 50s, with its rich story, its post-war middle class mores of US society, its production design and its characters blundering around a moral dilemma.
Comment
07/18/08
Married Life (2008)
57
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:113
Fresh:64
Rotten:49
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Married Life has excellent performances and flashes of dark wit, but it suffers from tonal shifts and uneven pacing.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Jul 24, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $1,197,472
Synopsis: This melodramatic musing on the trials and tribulations of marriage features a small but talented ensemble cast that includes Patricia Clarkson, Chris Cooper, and Rachel McAdams. Set in 1949, the... [More]
Starring: Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clarkson, Rachel McAdams
Director: Ira Sachs
Reviews for Married Life
Top CriticThe roundelay structure and Hitchcockian nods could have easily given way to a sardonic puppet theater, but Sachs and screenwriter Oren Moverman care too much about their characters to turn them into pawns
08/27/09
Click to read the article
04/23/09
Click to read the article
10/18/08
Top CriticClick to read the article
10/18/08
One of the more ethically dubious films to come out of Hollywood in years.
10/18/08
This darkly comic dramatic thriller, which is set just after World War II, is more than merely watchable. It's very smart and is old-fashioned in several respects.
10/18/08
It is as though filmmaker Ira Sachs fears that just making a film about infidelity is too straight, too pedestrian, so, he’s got to introduce the possibility that murder is on the horizon.
10/18/08
Even movies that dare to paint dark portraits of the sacred institution can’t resist glorifying it in the end.
09/10/08
The ensemble cast chemistry is superb in its nearly suffocating tangle of repressed passions, but the family-values wrap-up of all these messy erotic tensions feels ultimately far too pat and unresolved.
09/04/08
Once he gets out from under his influences and trusts his own gut, Sachs might become a major director.
08/07/08
Thought-provoking themes swirl around in this drama, brought to life by a skilled cast and a director who plays with Hitchcockian themes and imagery. In the end, it feels a bit undercooked, but the actors keep us glued to the screen.
08/01/08
Superbly directed, thought-provoking blend of Hitchcock movies, 1940s pastiche and Bette Davis-style melodrama, featuring terrific performances from Cooper and Clarkson.
08/01/08
It’s a good cast, with Cooper outstanding, but Sachs’s direction is stodgy and the screenplay is grindingly self-conscious.
08/01/08
The tangled web which slowly causes the film’s relationships to disintegrate is brilliantly woven. However, you can’t help wishing the climax packs a bit more of a dramatic punch.
08/01/08
Top CriticA noirish 1940s-set character study, it’s an initially intriguing tale of infidelity and betrayal that smoulders, but never quite catches fire.
08/01/08
Top CriticA classy cast and production design to die for are the only features of note in an underpowered tale of adultery and intrigue in ’50s America.
08/01/08
Married Life may fall short of the best Hollywood melodrama, but its nicely observed situations and old-fashioned storytelling ironically lend this a freshness more on-the-nose infidelity tales are missing.
08/01/08
The movie is determinedly low-key, but honest, with a wrenching break-up scene, sharp work from Clarkson, and a final thought that lingers, about never really knowing what your other half is thinking.
08/01/08
A well-acted but lugubrious noir, which is somehow not quite thrilling enough to be a thriller, and not quite profound enough to be a character study.
08/01/08
Top CriticLatest News for Married Life
September 04, 2008:
The ensemble cast chemistry is superb in its nearly suffocating tangle of repressed passions, but the family-values wrap-up of all these messy erotic tensions feels ultimately far too pat and unresolved. 
More...
March 06, 2008:
Critics Consensus: 10,000 B.C. is Primitive; Bank Gets the Job Done
This week at the movies, we've got prehistoric passion (10,000 B.C., starring Steven Strait and Camilla Belle), travel travails (College Road Trip, starring Maritn Lawrence and... More...
March 06, 2008:
The ensemble cast chemistry is superb in its nearly suffocating tangle of repressed passions, but the family-values wrap-up of all these messy erotic tensions feels ultimately far too pat and unresolved.
More...
February 09, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review
More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
Why Don't Australians Make Sci-fi?
The New Matilda's Lynden Barber looks at the recent success of low-budget sci-fi -- and asks the question.
New Moon Portraits
TIME offers us a closer look at the characters from the latest Twilight film.
Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Twitter
Get all the latest movie updates, reviews, interviews and features here.
Competitions
Win Star Wars prizes
Enough Prequel, Original Trilogy and Family Guy DVDs to fill a space cruiser
Win the entire 007 collection
Everything from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace could be yours.
Win Fight Club Special Editions and more
We're giving away the 10th Anniversary Blu-ray, plus Braveheart and the Rocky collection
IGN RSS Feeds