Pat can't seem to give Harry emotional involvement, although she says she loves him. This pushes him toward young beautiful Kay, who is more open in showing her feelings--she thinks she is the one that can heal his emotional wounds (caused by his wife's emotional distance as well as the early deaths of his parents).
Harry seems kind of a meek character to plot a killing, but seems more determined once he makes up his mind to do it. There are signs though that he is often doubtful and on the brink of changing his mind.
Behind his back, Richard makes a play for Kay. She says she loves Harry, but Richard can't understand what she sees in him, and to boost his argument Kay seems to have no compunction to go out with richard on several occasons. She's portrayed as neither innocent or witchy.
Richard's narration not only tells the story of Harry, but his own inner thoughts in his pursuit of Kay, and his own eventual plan to act on his jealousy to tear them apart. To his surprise, Pat is also having an affair where she says she is in love, but intends to stay in her marriage "for Harry's sake".
As the story continues, Kay gets cold feet about continuing the affair, and Harry tries time and again to kill Pat but things get in the way.
So what did either woman see in Harry that compelled each of them to stay in the relationship? I don't know. I don't get, since Kay is so young and beautiful, why she doesn't attract or go for men her own age. McAdams' bleached blonde hair is a big distraction, as that type of hair in the movies usually means a sexual bombshell and frankly there was no real sex in this movie (actually Patricia Clarkson gets the sex scenes, the most we see of McaAams is her bare back).
Brosnan's character disappears for quite some time in the middle of the film, and the mood/lightheartedness of his narration disappears too. There were some little things throughout that was too plot device-y (the taillights for one, and the hitchhiker was totally a red herring). Richard's hookup with Kay, according to what we see in the film, is not based on love although it is supposed to be. His last bit of narration spins it as "in trying to kill his wife, Harry finds out how much he really loves her" but this film is not that at all and I thought it was more Harry's fear of losing his wife than loving her. The dark middle part (which I think the director tried to make seem comical with Harry's many foiled attempts) and the happy-happy bookends don't seem to be part of the same film.
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