Following in the footsteps of Alain Delon, Dennis Hopper and Matt Damon, John Malkovich portrays charming sociopath Tom Ripley in this entertaining adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel - previously brought to the screen by director Wim Wenders as The American Friend in 1977. Ripley is now living a cultured, comfortable life in Italy, procuring rare art for collectors by rather dubious methods. When a boorish British associate (Ray Winstone, in an undemanding performance) asks him to bump off a troublesome rival, Malkovich sets himself a diverting challenge: to recruit terminally ill picture-framer Dougray Scott to be the assassin. Despite Malkovich's silky smooth performance as the unflappable manipulator, the film doesn't completely succeed owing to implausible plotting and the ineffectual direction of Liliana Cavani (The Night Porter) - her handling of the suspenseful moments renders them funny for all the wrong reasons. Malkovich may be at the top of his game, but he's the only one who is.

Tom Ripley - cool, urbane, wealthy, and murderous - lives in a villa in the Veneto with Luisa, his harpsichord-playing girlfriend. A former business associate from Berlin's underworld pays a call asking Ripley's help in killing a rival. Ripley - ever a student of human nature - initiates a game to turn a mild and innocent local picture framer into a hit man. The artisan, Jonathan Trevanny, who's dying of cancer, has a wife, young son, and little to leave them. If Ripley draws Jonathan into the game, can Ripley maintain control? Does it stop at one killing? What if Ripley develops a conscience?