Plot holes/inconsistenci es/unanswered questions

I think this is one of those movies that requires the viewer to assume A LOT!

I do think the character Frank Sullivan had this needing, loving side that was Jack. And then he had the rotten, emotionally-deprived, evil side that was Daniel Sherman. I think he assumed the Daniel Sherman identity to give an actual name and life to his evil, killing, and stealing side. He was Dr. Jeckyl - Mr. Hyde.


Here is my understanding of the film:

I think meeting Adrianne at the restaurant was an accident. He truly loved her and Mary more than he expected to. He and Adrianne built the ideal life. At the museum gala, he was thanking a wealthy woman who was a repeat client, and had donated a very valuable urn. Jack had achieved the level of respect and talent, and to be the kind of man he had always wanted. But the museum discovers the forged necklace. Jack knows his fake identity is going to be blown. He can't handle the idea of everyone knowing the truth about his background, he is so ashamed of who he is. A fake death is ideal as it would make him look like just some good, respectable guy who was the victim of a tragic accident, and it would free him from the legal situation of the fraud crimes he had committed. He decides he has to carry on life as Daniel Sherman, a life I believe he built as a safety net if ever things had to end with Adrianne. Either that, or he built it out of pure selfishness. They refer to him travelling for work (he mentions auctions), so it makes sense for him not to be home for days at a time without question. He was able to build this other life as an escape route. With faking his death, he needed a body for the crashed car otherwise cops would look for the missing driver. His method of killing was to suffocate with a bag over the head. After picking up the hitchhiker, he probably pulled the car over for some reason. He then suffocates the hitchhiker unconscious (the guy doesn't die, they show him as he coughs and becomes conscious after the crash). After Jack suffocates the guy, he puts his personal belongings on the body and puts the body in the driver's seat. Jack drives the car from the passenger side, throwing himself out before it goes over the edge of the cliff. This was long before forensics, and if the body burns up too much in the fire than dental records are no good. When Jack sees Adrianne at his mother's apartment, he tells her how surprised he is that she figured so much out about him. He knows she is smart, and that she will find out the entire truth. He is fearful that she might expose him for the fraud he is altogether, both the stealing and the identity theft. He knows she is a threat, so he tries to plays nice-nice and he plays on her love. That is why he makes up the Daniel Sherman story, he makes himself out to be a victim of blackmail so that Adrianne will have pity, trust him and go along with him on things. He continues this desperate act when he calls her while she is at the loft trying to help him find the necklace. By playing on her love, he maintains control. But when Adrianne tells Jack to give her time over the phone, he knows his plan to keep control is slipping. He then decides to kidnap the daughter to use as a bargaining chip in case Adrianne won't give him the necklace. He even later tells Adrianne he will kill her if he has to. It's all about maintaining image to him, as he told Adrianne he wanted Mary to remember him "from the photos in that stupid album". It all makes sense, but what I wonder is what she told Mary about her daddy dying a second time. ?

Just watched it for the first time last night, as has been said it just has too many holes and the script's just not good enough.

I may have missed something here but why did he fake his own death without making sure he had the necklace, surely he wouldn't have presumed it was in his case? And why not hide it in a safe place in the first place instead of just leaving it lying around even if it was in his case?

Didn't they say that the necklace was worth $4.5 million? 16 years of Social Security payments is nowhere near $4.5 million.

Help stamp out and do away with superfluous redundancy

He went on a lot of business trips. There are bigamists in real life, so it's definitely possible.

As to line 6: Harvey tells Adrienne that Lilian is going to be okay. This was right after Lilian was attacked. Lilian does not die.

I don't think the car is the biggest plot hole. I think he called, and then picked up, his pre-selected victim. As someone else said, since smothering was his murder method of choice, he probably smothered that victim (at least until they were unconscious), then put his watch, ring, etc. on the body. He could then have driven to the place where he intended the accident to take place (note it was far outside the city, on a country road), positioned the victim in the driver's seat, and jammed the gas pedal. There was no one around to see.

My biggest plot hole was how he decided to meet Goldie at his mother's place. He had no way of knowing that Goldie had spoken to Jack Saunders' cousin, or that the cousin had directed Goldie to Rosalie Sullivan. True, during his nightly predations in the apartment (and that was one mongo apartment, second only to Gwyneth Paltrow's apartment in "A Perfect Murder") searching for the necklace, he might have happened upon the high school records Goldie had dug up....but still, that's a bit of a leap.

I think his marriage to Kathy was bigamous and was going on prior to his "death." His frequent traveling was his excuse to both wives. Also, Rosalie Sullivan mentions that Jack had been dead to her for years, and that it didn't matter that he had died "a month ago." So between his faked death and Goldie showing up at Kathy's house, only 4-6 weeks had elapsed. And Kathy was surely more than 4-6 weeks pregnant. I agree with the commenters who say that killing off his life with Goldie was his way of simplifying things when his theft and fraudulent identity were about to be uncovered.

I think he could sell the necklace on the black market. All sorts of stolen objets d'art get disposed of that way.

I think everyone's favorite scene has to be when Goldie rips the necklace off the bear in the Gingolds' apartment.

Finally, since no one pointed it out, I will: Goldie was a pretty inconsiderate house guest. First she leaves her cup and saucer on the living room floor (!) at Rosalie's place, instead of thoughtfully bringing it into the kitchen, so Rosalie has to go clean that up. Then she leaves Kathy's front door open in the middle of winter when she enters the house, prior, of course, to wrecking all her pictures.