The narration (by Bryan Brown) on Dead in the Water will make you laugh, especially if you have ever been in a bad marriage.

Charlie Deagan (Brown) is a defense lawyer set on becoming the next judge. He is unhappily married to a rich senator's daughter, Olivia (Anne DeSalva). He'd get a divorce and marry his beautiful office assistant, Laura (Teri Hatcher), with whom he is having an affair, but Olivia has a signed prenup. He'd be left with nothing.

Inspired by his current case, in which a man's wife drowned in their swimming pool, Charlie develops a plan for the perfect murder. He is going to finally be rid of the insufferable Olivia.

Charlie's first mistake is sleeping with Victoria (Veronica Cartwright) to have an excuse for an almost-breakup, which will be followed by a getaway weekend at the lake to make up after the fight, because once Olivia is out of his life, the Victoria-vulture takes her place. He has simply traded one for another. At least Victoria is close friends with the governor.

Then police Lt. Frank Vaness (Seymour Cassell) notifies him that he needs to come to the morgue to identify his wife's body. He arrives to find Laura's body and the cops asking where his wife is. Did he get away with the perfect murder?

Dead in the Water is an amusing movie that provides an average amount of entertainment. It is a middle-of-the-road, staying-out-of-the-ditches ride. The best part of the movie is the narration. Without it, this would have been a bland movie to sit through. But it will keep you watching, just to see if he's going to get away with the murder.

The acting is solid. Cartwright stands out from the crowd because she is so seriously hilarious. There's not a single moment when she seems anything less than sincerely serious. She is so over-the-top with her sexually frustrated character that you'll feel sorry for Charlie whether he is a murderer or not. She is too convincing in her role.

While Dead in the Water is not a super flick, it's not a bad one either. It does exactly what a mystery is supposed to do: make you try to figure out how it will end. Depending on how savvy you are with the detective work, it will give you at least one surprise; maybe more. It does have a couple of twists and turns.