A man (Michael Caine) wants the wife of a famous mystery writer named Andrew Wyke (Sir Laurence Olivier) and goes to his huge remote estate to ask for her. He finds Wyke eager for him to take his wife...or does he? Then an elaborate (and plodding) game of cat and mouse begins.<br /><br />Why this is so acclaimed is beyond me. I'm not a young kid (I'm 45) and I usually find talky movies downright fascinating ("Rope" and "My Dinner With Andre" are two great examples) but I was bored silly by this. It moves WAY too slowly and I didn't find the characters or their dialogue even remotely interesting. Olivier constantly keeps digressing to the point where I just wanted to hit him. Caine just walks around looking confused. The twists at the end are good but by that point I was so bored I could have cared less. I actually dozed off for a few minutes! The acting does help. I've never been too impressed by Olivier as an actor--in the Shakespeare films and "Wuthering Heights" he seems unable to change expression. However he was good here. He chews the scenery and goes roaring through his role. But, as I said before, he's constantly going off the subject and getting into these little speeches that quickly got annoying. Caine is a wonderful actor but he looks a little out of his depth here. He was excellent at the end though. The production design is incredible--Wyke's mansion is just incredible. Still I found this slow and boring. This might have worked on stage but it certainly doesn't transfer to film. I can only give this a 4.