OMG...Fool me once, shame on you BUT...

...fool me twice and I'm a blithering idiot. (SPOILERS BELOW)

Such is the opinion I have about the Stockard Channing character. Paul/Will Smith is a con artist....PERIOD. He lies about every aspect of his life to everyone he meets. He, as admitted by his character, wants what she has....
...BUT...and this is the key...he doesn't want to work for it like the couple did their entire lives. He wants to fool people into liking him and then have them give him the keys to their kingdom. Keys that take a lifetime to achieve.

The phone call from the phone booth towards the end is a perfect example of her idiocy. Paul has taken their money and everyone else's that he can fool into giving him. He has affected/impacted a young man's life to the point of him killing himself. The only reason he's attached himself to this couple is because the others didn't seem as gullible (he says they weren't as friendly but everything Paul does is to improve his own life).

The lies permeated the Upper East Side building where Paul was able to have the doorman spitting on the couple as they came home from Rome...and through his loose lips, has everyone in the building thinking (temporarily) that Paul is the Kitteridge's abandoned black child.

Even after the constant lies and constant deceit, she still promises to visit him in prison and then take him under her wing...including a place to stay, furniture and the family business "...from top to bottom"?????

HOLY CRAP WHAT AN IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All this made the ending that more ridiculous. She was a loving wife to a loving husband throughout the entire movie but once this lying con artist gets to whispering in her ear (metaphorically), she's willing to throw everything away?

It really made me feel sorry for the Sutherland character. He gives his wife everything and she still wants more...or at least that's what Paul convinces her of.

Worst
Movie
Ever