Director Atom Egoyan takes a look at temptation and marital fidelity in 2010’s Chloe. We meet longtime married couple David (Liam Neeson) and Catherine Stewart (Julianne Moore). She’s a gynecologist and he teaches at a university, a place where he attracts the flirtatious attention of his young female students.

A few factors cause Catherine’s insecurities to come to the surface. Most damning, she finds a text and photo that imply David missed a flight so he could something-something with a coed. Catherine also accuses David of flirting with a waitress, and her pal Frank’s (RH Thomson) relationship with a much younger woman undermines her confidence as well.

During an evening out, Catherine meets a young woman named Chloe (Amanda Seyfried). It turns out the blonde beauty works as an escort, so Catherine hires her to create a test for David. Chloe will attempt to seduce David and thus demonstrate whether or not Catherine can trust him. The film follows this entanglement and side issues that the strange triangle creates.

Egoyan became a prominent director back in 1997 when he earned double Oscar nominations for directing and co-writing The Sweet Hereafter. After a glance at his filmography, I was surprised to discover that I’d only seen one of his flicks: 1995’s Exotica. I wasn’t wild about that one, but I didn’t view it as an indication that all Egoyan’s movies would be so dull.

Chloe manages to become more interesting than Exotica, but I can’t say that it does much to impress me. The movie’s main problem comes from the manner in which it telegraphs so many of its “twists”. Few – if any – of the story developments do much to surprise, and that’s a concern since Chloe wants to go down uncertain paths.

From early on, we can tell that the film will veer into Fatal Attraction territory. I don’t want to say too much more because I’d like to avoid spoilers, but let’s just say that Chloe causes trouble for the married couple. Maybe this isn’t the kind of trouble one might expect, but anyone who pays even vague attention will figure out the probable story well in advance.

Without a stimulating storyline, the film relies on character intrigue to keep us interested. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do much for us in that regard, either. Chloe herself is a pretty standard issue manipulative movie psycho chick, and Seyfried can’t bring more life to her than that. She’s stunning to look at – and to my surprise, gives us some good glimpses of her unclothed body – but Seyfried isn’t much of an actor. Her version of Chloe remains predictable and without nuance.

Given the nature of the story, David plays a surprisingly small part, so Neeson doesn’t get much to do. That leaves Moore to do most of the heavy lifting, and she proves perfectly capable. She brings more personality than the role deserves and threatens to almost make this more than a standard issue potboiler.

Almost. Without particularly rich characters, Chloe fails to grab us and involve us in its drama. It occasionally delivers some steamy visuals – Moore is free with nudity as well and looks damned good – but overall, this ends up as a pretty limp psychological drama.

Chloe appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-Ray Disc. The transfer consistently appeared positive.

Sharpness displayed very few concerns. I thought a few wide shots looked just a little tentative, but those were minor issues at most. The majority of the movie offered solid clarity and delineation. No problems with jaggies or moiré effects manifested themselves, and edge enhancement failed to appear. In addition, the presentation lacked any source flaws.

Colors looked fine within stylistic parameters. Some scenes went with a chilly blue tint, while others took on a warm tone. The hues consistently appeared positive when I accounted for the visual design. Blacks were dark and dense, and shadows displayed pretty good definition. Overall, this was a very nice presentation.

Expect a low-key DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack from Chloe. The soundfield didn’t offer a whole lot of activity. Music played the most important role, as the score and some songs provided good breadth across the front. Otherwise, matters remained subdued. Effects played a pretty minor part in the proceedings, and street scenes demonstrated the broadest settings. Nothing too memorable occurred, though.

Audio quality was more than satisfactory, at least. Music sounded warm and full, as the score offered nice range. Speech came across as distinctive and concise, and effects worked fine. Those elements didn’t have a lot to do here, but they were perfectly acceptable. Despite the lack of sonic ambition, the track was good enough for a “B-“.

A few extras complete the set. First comes an audio commentary with director Atom Egoyan, writer Erin Cressida Wilson and actor Amanda Seyfried. All three sit together for this running, screen-specific discussion of script and story, adapting the original film, cast and performances, themes, sets and locations, costumes and visual design, deleted scenes, and music.

While I’m not wild about the movie itself, the commentary provides a nice look at the production. I like the tidbits about the changes from the original movie, and I also delight in random thoughts such as those about the books used for set design. The commentary delivers a good take on the flick.

Next comes a featurette awkwardly titled Introducing Chloe: The Making of Chloe Directed by Atom Egoyan. The show runs 25 minutes, 42 seconds and provides notes from Egoyan, Wilson, Seyfried, producers Joe Medjuck and Ivan Reitman, director of photography Paul Sarossy, and actors Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, and Max Thieriot. The program looks at the script and the adaptation of the original movie, character/story issues, cast and performances, locations and cinematography, and music. The program lacks the usual promotional veneer, which is nice, and it offers a fairly cerebral examination of the production. It never quite becomes a great show, but it has generally good content.

Two Deleted Scenes fill a total of five minutes, 23 seconds. These include “Smart Mother” (1:50) and “Controlling and Betraying People (3:33). Both of these discuss a relationship the Max character had with an older woman. Max doesn’t play a big part in the movie other than as a plot device, so I think it’s good these scenes were cut. They would’ve been redundant if they both appeared anyway.

A few ads open the disc. We get clips for The Runaways, The Edgerton Brothers, and The Secret in Their Eyes. These also appear under Previews along with promos for The Square, A Single Man, The Pillars of the Earth, A Prophet, Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky and Damages. The disc tosses in the trailer for Chloe as well.

Despite some provocative sex sequences, Chloe lacks much heat. The story itself seems relentlessly predictable, and a good cast can’t do much to elevate the thin characters. The Blu-ray provides very nice picture quality along with acceptable audio and a few useful supplements. If you want to see Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried naked, Chloe is worth a look, but the movie itself delivers little drama.