Tom Ripley is a compelling, if frightening character. The sum of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels paints a fascinating portrait of a complex man with inscrutable motivations. Matt Damon does a credible job of portraying Ripley, eliciting a mixture of horror and sympathy for his exploits. (John Malkovich was also good in “Ripley’s Game”.) This adapatation is respectable but doesn’t fully jell for me, perhaps due to Gwyneth Paltrow’s demure damsel in distress — which isn’t wrong for the part, but Marge just isn’t very interesting or even likable.