Joseph Ruben's marital melodrama about an abused housewife is an empty, by-the-numbers thriller. Julia Roberts stars as a fragile young woman who marries a wealthy older man (Patrick Bergin) who proves to be an abusive tyrant. This cautionary tale for young women features a venerable plot that was used by Ruben himself in The Stepfather (1987) and more skillfully by Max Ophuls in Caught (1949). It may be necessary to massage such commonplace material somewhat to shape an entertaining film, but this thriller's moves are so obvious, so illogical and badly thought out that it's difficult not to laugh. Is it possible that Roberts, not a mail-order bride, would not have caught on to her husband's severe obsessive-compulsive disorder at some time before they married? Is it conceivable that when Bergin tracks his fugitive wife to kill her that he would announce his presence by neatly rearranging her shelves in his usual fashion? Along with Kevin Anderson in the slightly neutered good-guy role, the two gifted leads are mostly wasted here.