If you think of acting range as spanning the difference between the virtuoso versatility of Dustin Hoffman and the single-character capability of Harrison Ford, you'd have to slot in Michael Douglas a notch or two above Ford.
Hoffman seems capable of playing anything. Ford basically plays himself. Douglas has parlayed his considerable ability to play a few characters, all apparently slight variations of his own personality, into a major career and regular eight-figure salaries.
Douglas's film career can, for the most part, be divided into the following characters: the decent guy who made a big mistake and is paying for it big time (Disclosure, Fatal Attraction, The War of the Roses); the hard-bitten cop whose life is spiralling out of control (Basic Instinct, Hard Rain); the charismatic, adorable rogue (Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile, The Ghost and the Darkness); the arrogant, aloof, really rich guy with the expensively tailored suits and the slicked-back hair with the bullet-proof shellac (Wall Street, The Game, A Perfect Murder, out on video this week).
(As an aside we would be remiss if we didn't mention Douglas's role in The American President. The irony of Douglas - who was reportedly treated for his sex addiction - playing the U.S. president while the current occupant of the White House vigorously resists suggestions he consider treatment, has surely not been lost on observers inside the Beltway.)
The last Douglas character, the aforementioned wealthy guy with the fondness for generous handfuls of mousse, has been a gold mine for Douglas.
No one plays a rich jerk better than Douglas - at least the academy thinks so. It awarded the actor an Oscar for his showy turn as billionaire Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's 1987 drama Wall Street.
The problem is that Douglas seems bound and determined to go back to the same acting well. The Game, although a stylish and entertaining idea, featured Douglas snoozing his way through an aloof rich guy again, but at least there was a bit of action to break up the monotony of watching the actor deal with household staff and fellow rich guys with hard hair.
Ostensibly a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 thriller Dial M For Murder, which starred Ray Milland, Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings, A Perfect Murder will surely disappoint Hitchcock fans, but that's not the point. Hitchcock fans should know better, anyway. This is called a remake only because the filmmakers believed the association with a much-loved film might mean a few more dollars at the box office.
Those who remember Hitchcock and still went to see A Perfect Murder likely wish they had saved their money. Mr. Hitchcock was probably turning cartwheels in his grave. (Wait until he gets a look at the new Psycho due before the end of the year.)
The plot is basically the same as the original - Douglas hires his wife's lover to murder her. Said wife is played by Gwyneth Paltrow with her standard long-faced mopiness. The lover is played by the talented Viggo Mortensen. No more can be revealed because the twists and turns are supposed to keep us on the edge of our seats.
The problem, or one of them, is that the implausible developments just ask too much of the audience, and the film turns silly.
Douglas is on pure auto pilot; he even brushes his hair like Gordon Gekko.
It's time for the actor to do something other than the nice guy, the burned-out cop and, especially, the rich guy - with the hard hair.
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