The thriller aspects of the story and the overall solid level of acting -- including a sexy performance from a red-hot Nicole Kidman -- keep the audience interested but never fully emotionally involved. [...] the draw of top-name talent and an advertising campaign suggesting dark secrets should result in healthy, albeit midrange, numbers at the boxoffice. Set in 1998, when the country was consumed with the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the possible impeachment of President Clinton, the film concerns the consequences of an affair between a retired college professor and a seemingly inappropriate younger woman.

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.