Unforgettable

First time director and veteran producer Denise Di Novi's "Unforgettable" begins in an interesting, identifiable place. Julia Banks (Rosario Dawson) moves in with her boyfriend and, because he has a child, must regularly deal with his ex-wife. The jilted ex Tessa Connover (Katherine Heigl), a competitive perfectionist, powerlessly watches another woman raise her child.

Neither woman likes the other's parenting style. Julia is warm and loving; Tessa is an ice-cold control freak. Meanwhile the man in the middle of it all, David (Geoff Stults), is a pretty face more interested in growing his new business than getting involved in squabbles. But what usually ends in a lot of bickering, backbiting and, hopefully, family counseling, turns instead into manipulation and murder.

If you love the genre, this one has some deliriously delicious moments pulled straight from Hitchcock. Unfortunately, Heigl's character is so over-the-top unstable that the central premise is thoroughly unbelievable.

Usually dressed in white, the overly pale Heigl's Tessa wears shockingly bright red lipstick. She treats people terribly and no one seems to like her, but they still believe her obvious lies and quickly do her bidding.

To give her some credit Tessa has some delectably tasteless moments of villainy, like when she assumes the new wife's identity online and contacts Julia's physically abusive ex Michael Vargas (Simon Kassianides). Julia had a restraining order against Michael at one time, because the stalking and the violence were so severe. Now, Tessa - pretending to be Julia - sends sexy test messages to the guy and masturbates to his replies.

The whole thing is ridiculously grandiose and fantastically stylish - but it's not suspenseful. If Tessa were more charming, like a real psychopath, perhaps we could empathize - or even better - fear her. Then Julia's predicament would be palpable.

So you can watch this movie for its art direction and its cinematography (Caleb Deschanel) - also the surprising supporting performance by Cheryl Ladd, Tessa's mother, a matriarch of menace - but you're not likely to get lost in the story.

On the Blu-ray, you also get a nice little behind-the-scenes feature, a director's commentary and a deleted scene.

"Unforgettable"
Blu-ray Combo Pack
$35.99
www.unforgettablemovie.com/