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Jude Law,
Jude Law,
Marisa Tomei,
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Charles Shyer,
Charles Shyer
see all cast/crew...
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: Paramount
: Foreign, UK
: 105 min.
: English, French
: English, Spanish
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This remake of Lewis Gilbert's 1966 film of the same name features Jude Law filling the shoes Michael Caine once wore in the title role of Alfie. As with the original, Law occasionally speaks directly to the camera while his character talks of the opposite sex. Under the direction of Charles Shyer, Alfie follows a charming, if morally lacking, womanizer from one bed to the next. While his actions arise more from nonchalance than malice, Alfie nonetheless faces a moral dilemma when considering the two women he has impregnated: his common-law wife, whom he hasn't treated very well even outside of his tendency to stray, and one of his mistresses. Alfie also includes performances from Marisa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Susan Sarandon, and Nia Long. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
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| Being a "User" Has its Limits
by talltale
March 24, 2005 - 7:25 AM PST
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4 out of 6 members found this review helpful
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Ignore everything you've heard about ALFIE, including Chris Rock's Academy Award monolog about not hiring Jude Law and waiting to get Tom Cruise. The monolog was funny but--as far as Jude Law is concerned--pointless. Compare any performance by Law against another by Cruise and the latter comes up wanting. Heavily. Even "Magnolia" looks paltry against Law's work. This new "Alfie" may not boast Michael Caine, but it's a surprisingly good piece of filmmaking.
Law is compulsively watchable and brings layers of interesting comedy, drama and irony to his role (his women are aces, too--all of them). "Interesting" is a good word to describe this remake. It consistently holds your attention and ends up being much more melancholy (a quality we see less and less in American films) than you might imagine from its initial half-hour--which is upbeat, if sleazy, as Alfie does his number on a variety of women. But since he starts out a sleaze and ends up questioning himself and his motives, this is--by any standard--an improvement. (Except for cynics who demand the negative.)
After his direction of "The Affair of the Necklace" and his writing and direction of this one, Charles Shyer would appear to be turning into a better filmmaker than I'd have imagined from much of his earlier, more comedic work (the "Father of the Bride" remake). In any case, give this movie a shot and watch how a real actor can carry a problematic film. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 4.98)
60 Votes
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