Some fine acting can't stop this being a fairly tedious reconstruction of the Claus Von Bulow trial and subsequent appeal. Von Bulow was accused of the attempted murder of his wife Sunny by administering insulin to kill her and gain possession of her fortune. The defence counsel (Ron Silver), a professor, was helped by a gaggle of associates and students who found serious holes in the prosecution's case. Director Schroeder elects not to show us the trial itself, a serious miscalculation since it involves far too many static conversations between Silver and Jeremy Irons (winning an Oscar) as Claus (who, though clearly no Santa, may well have been innocent) as well as slow and lengthy reconstructions of various crises in the Von Bulows' lives. Glenn Close's Sunny delivers a deadpan narration from the depths of her hospital bed, assuring the viewer that they should be in no hurry to find out the truth. By the end, she's preaching to the converted.

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