Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Dead Easy is one of those movies where you're never sure just who is plotting against whom. Because every time you think you understand what's happening, the plot twists again.

Richard Grieco and Joanna Pacula play Simon and Teresa, a very wealthy couple, living in a glorious mansion, in South Africa. She's an artist, he's in advertising. From the looks of things, they have everything they want. They certainly have money and beauty. But Simon is in love with his assistant, Kate. They've been having an affair for quite some time and she's pressuring him to leave his wife. In some ways he wants to leave Teresa, but he's not quite sure how to break the news to her.

Teresa is also having an affair, but in her case it's just for fun, and a patch for her loneliness. Her lover, Joe, means absolutely nothing to her. Once Simon discovers her infidelity, he's got the perfect excuse to break up their marriage. Calling Teresa every name in the book, he gets all self-righteous on her and tells her their marriage is over.

But Simon's plan isn't perfect. It seems someone has sent a tape to Teresa - a tape showing exactly what Simon and Kate do during their free time. Now that Teresa knows about Simon's infidelity, she wants them each to admit they've made a mistake, and work on keeping their marriage together.

What's a man to do? Get drunk and in a barely remembered haze, hire a hit man to take out his wife. Of course!

That's where the "fun" begins. Blackmail, double-crosses, regret, and botched plans all come into play. It would be humorous, except this is by no means a comedy.

In fact, this is a slow-moving fairly boring movie. And it's hard to care very much for any of these characters. They're all fairly unlikable, and difficult to understand. Simon and Teresa have only been married for two years. How did their marriage crumble into the state it is today? We don't know. We're never told. Were they ever happy together? Again, we have no idea. We're simply shown a marriage in complete shambles with no clue how it got that way.

Kate's character (Thandi Puren) is just as difficult to understand. She claims to be in love with Simon, but it's hard to tell exactly why. We don't see him being particularly nice to her.

And then there are the decisions that simply make no sense. Like the decision, even if made in a drunken haze, to kill your wife just because she prefers to work on your marriage rather than give you a divorce. It seems to me there are better ways to handle that situation. In this case, the decision was made the same night as the conversation with the wife. Meaning, it's not like Simon really spent a whole lot of time trying to work things out in non-violent ways.

Then there's the decision to make a sex-tape with your lover. As soon as Simon and Kate decided to videotape their little get-together I said, "That's not such a bright idea". It seems to me that's just asking for trouble.

Overall, the bulk of this movie is slow-moving, boring, and difficult to connect with. While the acting and directing were OK, the characters were completely unlikable. As a result, I simply didn't find myself caring about them. The ending, however, is pretty exciting and makes the previous 90 minutes at least not a total waste. Still, there's not enough excitement to recommend this movie. Rated R for violence and sexuality, it's certainly not a movie for the kiddies. But as boring and nonsensical as it is, it's really not one for adults, either. Feel free to skip it.




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Recommended: No

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age