If director Robert Benton thinks this whodunnit is supposed to be an homage to Alfred Hitchcock, he'd better think again. It's closer to William Castle! Benton comes nowhere close to the subtle, nail-biting tension Hitch provided in his heyday. Where's the inventive camera style? The exciting, pervasive musical score? Where's the finesse?. Roy Scheider plays a psychiatrist who is drawn to a shady lady who might have murdered one of his own patients.

Improbable and tedious to no end, it features an OK Roy Scheider but Meryl Streep gives the most annoying, neurotic, unfocused performance of her otherwise luminous career. Just count how many times she plays, brushes away or toys with her hair. That's her acting style here. More Geraldine Page than Grace Kelly. The rest of the cast...oh, who cares?

Proceed at your own risk.