Well-acted, but ultimately disappointing examination of morals in the 1950s, with a prominent married society couple torn apart by his need to cheat on her (with men) and her friendship with their black gardener. The scenes between Julianne Moore and Dennis Haysbert (as the handsome groundskeeper) are wonderfully captured, moving and lovely--everything the scenes with Dennis Quaid are not. Quaid is not a bad actor, nor is he miscast here, but I do think his role is somewhat contemptible. The husband is shown not only to be a closet-case, but an obnoxious liar and alcoholic--weak and crippling. His relationships with two other men in the film are barely touched upon. Is there some kind of movie-law against showing what is so attractive about two men in lust? True, when the guys kissed, a teenage girl in the row behind me called out, "That's gross!" (making me wonder why some people even venture out of the house), but I do wish we might have gotten to see different sides to the husband; as it is, he's just a closet jerk, and an anchor on this story. **1/2 from ****