You know, most people never appreciate what they have in life. Most people just consider their neighbor's garden is more greener, or think that other people's plate has more food than theirs. No matter what shit you have, you will always think you're the unluckiest person. And some people would even consider to have an affair, even when their cojones are nailed to the board.

Charles Schine (Clive Owen) is a family man. His relationship with his wife, Deanna (Melissa George) is in strain because their daughter, Amy (Addison Timlin) is ill with diabetic and they've been saving money for medication. One day he meet a woman named Lucinda Harris (Jeniffer Aniston) in the train, and soon they are having an affair. When they're going to take their relationship to another level, a man named Phillipe LaRoche (Vincent Cassel) robbed them and blackmailed them. They have to pay some money to him so he won't spill their affair to their family.

I made a mistake by knowing the storyline beforehand. I read the spoiler and knew what would happened. Never again. It really sucked the joy outta watching movies. The only reason why I read the spoiler was because I thought this movie would not be shown here in New Zealand. It was already shown in USA and other countries almost a year ago, so I thought what the hell. Anyhoo, my experience watching this movie was flat -- maybe because I already knew what happened -- so it didn't leave me with any emotional baggage whatsoever. The story was okay per se, I mean if you watched Unfaithful it almost has the same premise....but with a twist in the end. Maybe if I wasn't reading the spoiler, I might've enjoy this movie more and probably surprised to discover the ending. The movie has attitude; the cinematography is gritty, showing nice Chicago's shades. Although I hate the music which brought me with obvious cues, like the odd moment of, "He's behind you!" But the rap music is great, I thought it's a weird juxtaposition but it worked.

The actors' performance were good but not great, and I noticed even though this movie is about American family, the actors are mostly European like Clive Owen, Vincent Cassel, and David Morrisey who has several lines in the movie. Yikes, he's chubby in this movie -- I mean, I just saw him in Basic Instinct: Risk Addiction and he was yummy, but in this movie, nah -- not so much. Melissa George is from Aussie, and delivers a wonderful performance. The only thing bothered me was the performance from Jeniffer Aniston....She's the only American actress in this movie, and she didn't actually give me anything. She isn't actually a beautiful woman...although beauty is in the eyes of the beholder...but she failed to be this vixen and sexy woman. She just looked nice girl playing dressed up as sexy girl. Her sex scene seemed forceful, and teasing -- I mean compare to those daring performance like Angelina Jolie, or Diane Lane who were just out there, she seemed just playing it safe. Oh, well. I thought this movie might be better if she just let it out. Regardless, I really didn't care about this movie.

Ratings: 6/10