It's the winter of 1960/61 in New York City. Bookstore owner Marty Kimell (Eddie Marsan) recently lost his wife Helen and police detective Lawrence Corby (Vincent Kartheiser) is investigating the murder. Successful architect and aspiring crime novelist Walter Stackhouse (Patrick Wilson) is obsessed with the murder. He and his socialite wife Clara (Jessica Biel) throw a party which is attended by beautiful nightclub singer Ellie Briess (Haley Bennett). He spends his spare time secretly writing his book which drives his wife into rages of jealousy over Ellie.

It is a murder mystery based on a novel. Director Andy Goddard is more known as a TV director. He doesn't have the cinematic flare. The production style is lacking despite the 60s decor. He is supposed to be an architect and the house does not stand out enough. Wouldn't it be better if they have a stylish Manhattan apartment? Wouldn't that be a simpler set to dress? More importantly, Goddard's camera style is lacking. It looks like a TV movie. While it has the stuff of the era, it doesn't have the soul of the era. It doesn't have the noir murder mystery style that the story is so desperate to have. As for the murder mystery itself, it doesn't start until Clara's death well into the movie. It's too far and the movie becomes too slow in its built. The actors are fine but they're just wasting their time doing this movie.

I haven't read the source material nor seen a movie this is supposedly a version of (according to IMDb). So I can only speak for this movie on display right here. The fine acting is one thing, but what really got me was the script. It is ambiguous and very woven to say the least. Predicting things may seem easy, but in the end, maybe it isn't? And that's something I really enjoyed during watching.

Having said that, there are a few things that seem easy to spot. It's a murder mystery, there are seemingly over the top characters involved and some sketchy themes running through it all. The final shot is mesmerizing to say the least and makes the mind wander ... and wonder too!

Patrick Wilson is a two-time Tony Award winner who bears, at certain angles, a resemblance to Paul Newman. He has enjoyed a very good career. But if he doesn't stay away from films like this, I fear for him.

"A Kind of Murder" takes place in 1960 and actually begins in a movie theater where "Butterfield 8" is being shown. A Chevrolet commercial can be heard from the screen; I'm not familiar enough with the film to say it took place in the movie, nor am I aware of commercials being shown in theaters, but I found it odd.

The story concerns two men, architect and some time writer Walter Stackhouse (Wilson) and a bookstore owner, Marty Kimmel (Eddie Marsan). Kimmel's wife is murdered and found near a tavern, and an aggressive cop, Laurence Corby (Vincent Kartheiser) is positive Kimmel is the killer. However, a young man has given him an alibi - he and Kimmel were both in the theater to see Butterfield 8 at the same time.

Then Walter's wife Clara (Jessica Biel),a beautiful but deeply disturbed and unhappy woman, winds up dead in the same location. Both women had taken the same bus, which stopped near the tavern. Walter, tired of Clara being neurotic, had told her he wanted a divorce. She threatened suicide, then left abruptly to be with her sick mother.

Detective Corby harasses both men mercilessly, and when he finds out that Stackhouse has clippings of the Kimmel murder as a resource for the writing he does on the side, he doubles up the harassment.

I'm not sure why this was set in 1960 except that it was based on a Patricia Highsmith novel probably written then. I wonder if the screenwriter (or Highsmith) realized that the Fourth Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1790 so that Corby could not have walked into Stackhouse's home and started going through his house without a warrant. And what idiots allow such harassment and never retain an attorney?

The film had some atmosphere but was slow and dull. It took forever to get to the plot. Now, modern screen writing demands this. I have no problem waiting for the point of the movie if the film is moving along. This one didn't.

Patricia Highsmith was a wonderful mystery writer, but she wasn't perfect. I haven't read her novel but somehow I feel it had to have been better than this.