Okay, it seems to be a requirement of remakes that one of the stars of the original has to be be given a bit part. That's the only explanation for Faye Dunaway's appearance as a psychiatrist in this updated version of the 1968 Dunaway-Steve McQueen film. Her scenes with Pierce Brosnan add nothing to the plot of the movie. But Dunaway's cameo just reminds us how cool the original movie was, and how cold this one is.
Dunaway was one of the coolest actresses of the late '60s-late '70s. And McQueen-there was no one cooler than he. He deliberately chose to be cast against type as a sophisticated millionaire in "Crown," and yet we bought it. And the end of the earlier version was way cool.
There's nothing cool about this version. Whatever cool had Brosnan had dissipated after Remington Steele. Russo's cool was used up in "In the Line of Fire" and "Lethal Weapon 3." There is no spark between them in this film, no sense that the two characters really care about each other. And we don't care about either of them-neither of the characters as likeable.
Russo starts out wonderfully as a strong, smart insurance investigator, but by the end of the film she has been reduced to an annoying blubberer. The movie ends on a predictable note.
Go ahead and rent "The Thomas Crown Affair." Just make sure it's the earlier version.
Dunaway was one of the coolest actresses of the late '60s-late '70s. And McQueen-there was no one cooler than he. He deliberately chose to be cast against type as a sophisticated millionaire in "Crown," and yet we bought it. And the end of the earlier version was way cool.
There's nothing cool about this version. Whatever cool had Brosnan had dissipated after Remington Steele. Russo's cool was used up in "In the Line of Fire" and "Lethal Weapon 3." There is no spark between them in this film, no sense that the two characters really care about each other. And we don't care about either of them-neither of the characters as likeable.
Russo starts out wonderfully as a strong, smart insurance investigator, but by the end of the film she has been reduced to an annoying blubberer. The movie ends on a predictable note.
Go ahead and rent "The Thomas Crown Affair." Just make sure it's the earlier version.