A Perfect Murder is a 1998 American crime thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen. It is a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film Dial M for Murder, though the characters' names have been changed and much of the plot has been rewritten and altered from its original form. Loosely based on the play by Frederick Knott, the screenplay was written by Patrick Smith Kelly.

Wall Street trader Steven Taylor is married to the much younger Emily. Meanwhile, a smitten Emily is having an affair with artist David Shaw, for whom she considers leaving Steven. Steven arrives at David's art studio the next day. Steven not only knows about the affair, but has carefully researched David's past. His real identity is Winston Lagrange, an ex-convict who cons rich women. Pointing out that he can easily send him back to prison, Steven instead recruits David into murdering Emily for $500,000.

Steven takes Emily's housekey and hides it outside the service entrance to their lavish Manhattan co-op apartment. David is to use the key to enter the apartment, kill her, and make it look like a robbery gone bad. At his weekly card game, Steven takes a break and uses his cellphone to make a call to an automated bank system, confirming his alibi, while using a second phone to call Emily. Emily answers in the kitchen and is attacked by a masked assailant, but stabs him in the neck with a meat thermometer. Steven returns, but finds the assailant's body. He takes the key from the body, puts it back on Emily's keychain, damages the service entrance door, and plants a screwdriver on the assailant. The NYPD arrives, led by Detective Moe Karaman. They remove the assailant's mask, but the body is not David's.

Feeling suspicious, Emily confides in her friend that Steven would have inherited her whole $100 million fortune had she been killed. She quietly makes inquiries and learns that Steven's extremely risky margin trades on the stock market are unraveling. If he is unable to find enough money to cover the balance urgently, both Steven's finances and his credit will be completely wiped out.

Soon after, Steven receives a call from David, who plays an audio tape of the two discussing the plan to kill Emily. They agree to meet at a local deli, where David demands the full $500,000 or he will turn Steven in.

Also realizing the key on her keychain belongs to the assailant, Emily confronts Steven. He explains that David is blackmailing them by threatening to kill Emily and Steven has been paying him off quietly to protect her from harm. When he saw her dead assailant in their kitchen, he assumed it was David and took the key from his pocket to shield Emily from facing murder charges. Despite Emily's tears and pleading, Steven lovingly insists that she is not to call the police.

After exchanging the money, Steven kills David in a private compartment on an Amtrak train, taking David's gun and the money. As he dies, a laughing David reveals he mailed the tape to Emily via courier service. Steven rushes home and finds the mail still unopened. He hides the money, gun and audio tape in his safe before showering.

Emily confronts him. She reveals that she knows everything, having found the tape in the safe and listened to it while he showered. As she turns away, Steven attacks her, vowing she will only leave him dead. After a brief fight, Emily grabs David's gun from the safe and kills Steven. NYPD Detective Karaman later comforts a heartbroken Emily, telling her not to blame herself, as she had no choice but to kill Steven in self-defense.