Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) is an anal retentive millionaire with the kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder that would drive even me crazy (and I rearrange shelves at supermarkets and re-fold clothes in department stores. Why won't my friends let me arrange their closets? I do such a great job!)

Crawford finds out his trophy wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) is having an affair. This is not her first time at the rodeo. She's good at it - keeping all details, even her name, a secret. But with Crawford as her husband, she should have known better.

This is not a spoiler – Crawford waits for Jennifer to come home from one of her twice-weekly assignations and shoots her in the face. He then calmly cleans himself up and calls 911. He confesses. He doesn't want a lawyer or bail. He wants to stay in jail for now. Meanwhile, his wife does not die -she's in a coma.

Assistant D.A. Willy Beacham (Ryan Gosling) is a clever young man. He's given his two weeks notice. He's going off to a prestigious law firm. He's going to be on a team headed by gorgeous partner, Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike). She lets him know she wants a winner. He is a winner and was good at positioning himself to win cases. He's easy to admire. With Crawford's confession in hand, Beacham accepts this last case. Appear in court, accept the guilty plea, and go box up his desk.

At Crawford's arraignment, the pieces do not fall neatly into place. Crawford's gun was never fired. He had no gun residue on him. There is no murder weapon. Then Crawford throws in a bombshell. The first cop at Crawford's house, Detective Rob Nunally (Billy Burke), was his wife's lover! Since Nunally did not acknowledge his involvement when taking Crawford's confession at the police station, Crawford's confession is thrown out.

Meanwhile, Crawford, who should have spent more time figuring out how to keep his wife from straying, delights in frustrating Beacham. He has him investigated. He likes taunting Beacham and flirting with him (in a manly, cat-and-mouse way).

Crawford is smart and crafty but so is Beacham and this is what makes Fracture so much fun. They could be equally matched; however, Beacham is on his way up and impatient about it. And being embarrassed by Crawford for failing to do a thorough investigation places not only the D.A.'s office in a lousy light, but drops a clowd or two over his would-be lucrative new career. Instead of having the case passed on to another D.A., Beacham wants to solve the mystery – egged on by Crawford's arrogance - he is keeping score and he's winning at every turn.

Not only is the dialogue clever and the story of two very smart people up against each other interesting, but later, Fracture makes you think the story through again. Does it all fall into place? What about that tape of Crawford at his wife's rendezvous? And the ending proves a truth – sometimes the need for revenge compromises even the best strategic planning.

I watch Courttv.com and people do plan things out carefully. Sometimes it works. People can be devious when they are seething with rage (though they still use their home computers to do internet searches for poison and ways to kill).

I like the way director Gregory Hoblit presented the characters. You feel sorry for Hopkins because he's been cuckolded and he's wealthy and smart – so he's humiliated and rightfully angry. Hopkins has a good grip on this character. He also enjoys being clever. Gosling's Beacham has charm and a hunger for success that informs us that his background demands he succeed. His character flaws are barely submerged and subtly visible – and that's not an easy thing for an actor to pull off.

(We at zboneman.com are excited to welcome the prolific and multi-talented writer Victoria Alexander to our staff. Critic for http://www.filmsinreview.com/ and pundit and humorist responsible for the candid and fearlessly funny "The Devil's Hammer," her column appears every Monday on http://fromthebalcony.com. Start off your week with a good hard laugh. It's a thrill to have her on board. Victoria Alexander answers every email and can be contacted directly at .)