Infidelity

Comedies about infidelity, or perceived infidelity, or thwarted infidelity, have been a staple of moviedom from the silent-screen era to the last two dozen Judd Apatow ripoffs. What distinguishes The Dilemma in this genre is its resounding unfunnyness, its emotional dishonesty, and the general unlikability of its cast of characters. Directed by Ron Howard and starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James as best buds and business partners, The Dilemma begins over a dinner between friends: Ronny (Vaughn)

Some modern philosopher - was it Judith Krantz or Jackie Collins? - theorized that in America, brains migrate East and beauty West. Slamdance, set in relentlessly voluptuous Los Angeles and starring relentlessly stunning actors, proves the theory. Beautiful the movie is, but the filmmakers must have checked their brains at the California-Nevada border. Working for the first time from someone else's script, director Wayne Wang (Chan Is Missing, Dim Sum) has left San Francisco's Chinatown for L.A.'s dance-club scene, where this becalmed thriller takes place.

Love and fidelity - or more precisely the lack of same - in marriage are the focus of W. Somerset Maugham's 1926 comedy The Constant Wife, and his clear-eyed, wittily observant discussion still makes bracing, fresh theater. Indeed, in an America where married love is a worshipped ideal and marital infidelity a demonized sin, Maugham's nonjudgmental posture in this comedy of manners, which is receiving a smartly evocative production at the Walnut Street Theatre, seems downright subversive.

Just A Kiss is another one of those love/sex/hip-banter relay races, where the baton of infidelity (sorry for the sports metaphor) is passed willy-nilly from one randy Manhattanite to the next. The directorial debut of actor Fisher Stevens, this predictable and gimmicky ensemble piece brings together considerable talent - Kyra Sedgwick, Taye Diggs, Sarita Choudhurya and Marisa Tomei among them - and lets them loose in scenarios that are the stuff of personal ads. You know, an illicit hotel tryst here, a little kinky S&M there.

AFEW WORDS about the Kobe Bryant case: As the lack of evidence was revealed, it became much more apparent just what a joke this case has become. Now, with the accuser thinking about dropping the charges, another serious question arises. A forensic DNA analyst has concluded that the accuser, who has adamantly denied having sex with a second man that night, actually had sex with the second man after the alleged assault and before she went to authorities. After becoming clear that the accuser is nothing more than a suicidal, bipolar, promiscuous young woman, the question is what recourse does Kobe, or any man in this situation, now have?

A recent survey found that Facebook is mentioned in one out of five new divorce filings, and some experts are labeling it as the top website for facilitating affairs. As the president of AshleyMadison.com - the world's largest service expressly dedicated to infidelity - I could not help but take notice. If Facebook affairs are being cited in divorce proceedings, then the people involved in them are getting caught - which means the network probably isn't the best place to stray.

Sure, we are obligated to forgive Rep. Gary Condit's infidelity - if he asks to be forgiven (Inquirer, Aug. 24). If he cannot admit that he was unfaithful, he either doesn't understand what infidelity is - and that lack of understanding constitutes an excellent reason to throw him out of Congress - or he knows exactly what it is and doesn't care. The problem here is the growing trend to isolate personal infidelity to one's personal oaths from all the other things that infidelity affects.

Journalist Lucinda Franks said that it took her five months to persuade her friend, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, to open up for an interview. Ms. Franks argued that it would be to Mrs. Clinton's advantage to speak about her husband's infidelity and defuse the issue as she gears up to run for the U.S. Senate from New York. We don't think so. Word of the interview, to be published in the flashy debut issue of Talk magazine, made news, of course. That was its intention.

A riveting account of oppression, injustice, and defiance, The Stoning of Soraya M. dramatizes the true story of an Iranian wife and mother put to death under fundamentalist religious law in 1986. Arriving as the Islamic Republic's disputed election dominates world headlines, the film could hardly be more timely. When French-Iranian journalist Freidoune (Jim Caviezel) is stranded in a remote hamlet with car trouble, he learns that an innocent woman accused of infidelity was killed by her rock-throwing neighbors - a sentence dictated under laws ratified after the country's Islamic revolution.

It may not look it, but amid the comic mix of triviality and titillation that passes for the presidential campaign, there is hope. The press, no longer piously denying its role as arbiter of all scandal, is slowly evolving some rules to govern the game. First is the Ginsburg Rule: If you must be caught indulging in a common vice, don't be the first. Douglas Ginsburg was forced to withdraw his nomination for the Supreme Court when it was found that he had smoked marijuana a few times.

Question: What makes a relationship emotional infidelity versus just a really close friendship with someone of the opposite sex? I know my husband would never cheat in the physical sense, but he doesn't seem to acknowledge that there's other behavior that crosses a line. Answer: The difference between emotional infidelity and a really close friendship is what it takes away from you and the value you place on it. And that difference is why it's so important for couples to agree with each other about the amount of time they spend together.

Comedies about infidelity, or perceived infidelity, or thwarted infidelity, have been a staple of moviedom from the silent-screen era to the last two dozen Judd Apatow ripoffs. What distinguishes The Dilemma in this genre is its resounding unfunnyness, its emotional dishonesty, and the general unlikability of its cast of characters. Directed by Ron Howard and starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James as best buds and business partners, The Dilemma begins over a dinner between friends: Ronny (Vaughn)

A recent survey found that Facebook is mentioned in one out of five new divorce filings, and some experts are labeling it as the top website for facilitating affairs. As the president of AshleyMadison.com - the world's largest service expressly dedicated to infidelity - I could not help but take notice. If Facebook affairs are being cited in divorce proceedings, then the people involved in them are getting caught - which means the network probably isn't the best place to stray.

The 80-year-old Souderton man who strangled his wife of 60 years during a quarrel over infidelity will undergo psychological testing before pleading guilty to the crime, his attorney said yesterday. Rudi Adolph Koos readily told officials that he had killed his wife, Waltraud, 75, on Jan. 5 in a fit of anger because he suspected her of cheating on him, said Frank Genovese, a Skippack lawyer. But anyone who knows Koos, outwardly a calm man who lived quietly with his wife, can't fathom why he became enraged enough to kill, Genovese said.

There are few sights as ridiculous as a big corporation wrestling with a moral dilemma. In the weeks since golfer Tiger Woods was embroiled in a marital-infidelity scandal, his sponsors have been hitting him into the rough. Last week, AT&T decided he is no longer the kind of clean-cut, family-friendly corporate ambassador its products require. Accenture had already made the same decision. And yet the companies dropping Woods are guilty of two sins, stupidity being the most obvious.

LOOKS LIKE we're all paying for Tiger Woods' sins. $12 billion we're paying. That's what Woods' marital infidelity has cost shareholders of various Tiger-linked stocks, from Gatorade to Gillette, American Express to AT&T, say two University of California, Davis, professors. We'll spare you the eye-glazing details (stock nerds can do the math themselves), but basically the profs studied market fluctuations for 13 days after Tiger crashed his SUV outside his Florida home, spewing a sordid mess of infidelity that has destroyed the golf icon's reputation and cost him lucrative sponsorships.

The saga of Tiger Woods - and not only his - is a classic, pop-cultural case of the sexual tables turned. It's a story becoming increasingly familiar. His alleged affairs, text messages, and voice mails are, as of this writing, still to be confirmed or authenticated, but they point to the quintessential tale of this age - that of the great man brought low via mobile media. Tiger, Tiger, texting is not too bright. He now has fallen - along with Gov. Corzine, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Sen. John Ensign (R., Nev.)

A riveting account of oppression, injustice, and defiance, The Stoning of Soraya M. dramatizes the true story of an Iranian wife and mother put to death under fundamentalist religious law in 1986. Arriving as the Islamic Republic's disputed election dominates world headlines, the film could hardly be more timely. When French-Iranian journalist Freidoune (Jim Caviezel) is stranded in a remote hamlet with car trouble, he learns that an innocent woman accused of infidelity was killed by her rock-throwing neighbors - a sentence dictated under laws ratified after the country's Islamic revolution.

ELIZABETH EDWARDS put forth a good front when husband John Edwards told her of his affair, but his behavior definitely made her sick. In her new memoir, "Resilience," due out the Tuesday after Mother's Day, Edwards writes that news of her husband's affair made her vomit. She says that John admitted to the betrayal just days after declaring his run for president in 2006. She says she wanted him to drop out of the race to protect their family from the media, but stood by his side anyway.

Question: Discovered wife was having a lengthy affair. She says it was with Guy X and it's over. I believe it's with Guy Y - and that it may not be over. I base this on: extensive review of phone records; the time of the calls; cross-referencing calls with Y to dates that I've been able to confirm my wife rented a hotel room; discovery of "love" and "relationship compatibility" forecasts from an astrology site; the fact that Y's numbers were listed under X's initials on my wife's phone contacts list; and a playlist named with Y's initials on her MP3 player.