...a forgettable remake that shouldn’t have been remade in the first place.
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For Paramount, 2004 turned out to be a pretty bad year for the studio when it came to remakes, churning out pretty much uninspiring modern versions of "The Stepford Wives", "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Alfie" to tepid box-office responses from moviegoers. What possessed Paramount to sign off on so many remakes in a single year is anybody´s guess but the gamble certainly did not pay off in a big way as the studio had initially hoped. In fact, all three movies lost money at the box-office.
Alfie, Alfie, Alfie.
From the original 1966 screenplay and subsequent play by Bill Naughton, "Alfie" gets a makeover courtesy of Elaine Pope (writer for "Seinfeld" and "Murphy Brown") and this new film´s director Charles Shyer ("Father of the Bride"). The original British production of "Alfie" was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Michael Caine. Although he lost the Oscar to Paul Scofield that year, Caine´s movie career received a major boost post-Alfie and took off after that. The same, however, cannot be said about Jude Law, who reprises Caine´s role in this modern remake of "Alfie". Not that Law needed the boost in the first place. 2004 was a busy but uneven year for Law, with performances that ranged from dismal in "Sky Captain" to indifferent in "Closer", in a film where Clive Owen largely overshadowed him.
"Alfie" did put the spotlight squarely back on Law, as he was basically tasked with carrying most of the film on his slight but more than capable frame. And therein lies "Alfie"´s biggest problem. With the main character, Alfie, being the ultimate center of attention in this film, it puts the onus on Law to deliver a performance that literally makes or breaks the film. For the most part, Law delivers but the burden subsequently fell squarely on the rather weak script, which sorely lacked the depth and the ability to cajole the audience into caring about any of the characters. It is also a shame that the largely female supporting cast--made up of illustrious and accomplished actresses like Susan Sarandon and Marisa Tomei--end up being left by the wayside, twiddling their thumbs.
Like the "Alfie" of old, this latest incarnation of "Alfie" tells the same story of a permissive British womanizer, only now he is transplanted and lives in Manhattan, which, according to our charmer, is the world´s capital for beautiful women. Living without any hint of guilt or regrets on how he treats all the women he beds, Alfie transitions from one woman to another with relative ease. However, Alfie is not the millionaire playboy that everyone usually associates with such a promiscuous and carefree lifestyle. Instead, he is just a working Joe who drives a limousine for a living. Putting his immense charm and presumably, his sexy British accent to good use, Alfie is a regular Casanova and Manhattan is his fertile hunting ground. For him, women are just playthings that he can discard when he gets bored or finds the next hottie. Typically, he harbors not an ounce of emotional attachment to any of them, even though most of the women may think the world of him. Alfie´s list of conquests includes Dorie (Jane Krakowski), a lonely wife with a knockout body, Julie (Marisa Tomei), a beautiful single mom who craves for a stable relationship, Nikki (Sienna Miller), a hard-drinking party girl and Liz (Susan Sarandon), the rich, older woman in his life. The other people who live within Alfie´s midst include his best friend, Marlon (Omar Epps) and Marlon´s girlfriend, Lonette (Nia Long).
"Alfie" delivers a familiar, if not boring tale of an unscrupulous womanizer, who only much later, after suffering through a few life-changing setbacks, finally discovers that the previous relationships he had with these women have unwittingly left an indelible mark in his hedonistic life. Alfie´s days of having fun without the added responsibilities of a commitment takes a dramatic turn when, in a moment of weakness, he seduces a woman whom he knows to be strictly off-limits. Obviously, the realization comes much too late and after that one encounter, everything about his freewheeling life is never the same again. Traveling down the path to self-realization, Alfie has to make hard choices that may or may not lead to his reform but somehow, he can´t seem to catch a break. Maybe it is just poetic justice for a man who used to, in his own words, "subscribe more to the European philosophy of life," with his priorities, "leaning towards wine, women and...well, that's about it." Never one to settle for the companionship of just one woman, Alfie finally gains a new perspective of life, learning it the hard way.
In this day and age, the question of sexual promiscuity should never be taken lightly. Back in 1966, the original "Alfie" took full advantage of the swinging decade that was the ´60s, more or less trivializing an already accepted lifestyle. It may have been OK then but after the AIDS scare of the ´80s and ´90s, the idea of a man sleeping around without a care in the world is not only scary but also a dangerous one to perpetuate.
It may not seem like it at first but "Alfie" actually falls into the dramatic genre more than the romantic-comedy one. There are instances when a comedic angle to the story is tackled but for the most part, they could hardly elicit any kinds of laughter from me. When the only scene that´s worth a laugh comes from a throwaway character that only had less than 5 minutes of screen time, you know the film is in trouble. Worse, the rest of the story is all too predictable and mostly uninspiring, not at all helped by its surprisingly dark and all too serious tone.
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[release]15235[/release]