This film should be used as a training film for wannabe actors. Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling and Joe LaBruto all pull off stellar performances in this character-driven how-to-prove-who-done-it. The plot device is simple. Engineer Ted Crawford (Hopkins) shot his wife. We saw him do it. He made very little effort (apparently) to hide it. Surely an Assistant DA headed into big time private law firm will have no trouble proving it. What the ADA, Willy Beachum, does not realize is that one of the first responders to the apparent hostage taking and shooting at the Crawford home was detective Robert Nunnally, whose affair with the shooting victim is what drove Crawford to commit the crime in the first place. The cat and mouse between Beachum and Crawford game that ensues requires strong acting performances to carry the story along. Fortunately, Gosling was up to the challenge of appearing alongside Hopkins. The two men played off one another brilliantly and moved the story along to its foreseeable twist ending. The subplot concerning Beachum's contemplation of the lucrative offer from the gigantic law firm, complete with romantic interest, is not so well done, but generally this is an entertaining film carried by the spell-binding interactions of the two leads.