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The
Truth About Charlie Review: Synopsis Reggie suddenly finds herself immersed in the suspicious circumstances that surround her husband's death and it soon emerges that Charlie was leading a double life. Finding herself the target of a ruthless gang, she is joined by her holiday acquaintance Joshua Peters and US government Agent Mr. Bartholemew (Tim Robbins) as she get closer to her husband's secret life. As Reggie slowly uncovers more about her husband's past, she realises that Joshua is not quite what he seems and some alarming information about his past is revealed. To make matters worse Reggie is under investigation by local detective Commandant Dominique (Christine Boison), who is adamant that the young woman is the chief suspect in the murder hunt. The clock is ticking and Reggie must find the truth - The Truth About Charlie - before it's too late. Critique The Truth About Charlie, which is a modern remake of the classic film Charade (starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn), was co-written and directed Jonathan Demme. The fact that Demme wanted to retell the 1963 tale was somewhat surprising for many people - after all, the acclaimed director of Philadelphia and The Silence Of The Lambs was known for his originality and passion to be different from the crowd. The film begins by introducing us to Regina 'Reggie' Lambert (Thandie Newton), a wife on holiday in Martinique. Upon returning to her Parisian home, Reggie discovers that her husband, Charlie, has been murdered. After calling the police, she is told that Charlie was actually leading a shady double life and that he was killed as an act of revenge. With Charlie's several enemies still terrorising her, Reggie must learn to trust no-one until she has fully uncovered the secret's of her husband's secret past. As is almost always the case, this new take on the story is universally acknowledged to be inferior to the original. The energy between the two leads fails to sizzle on screen, but it is the script that is the ultimate source of the film's downfall. The modified plot seems too tired and generic, while the dialogue lacks panache and imagination. In short, this is certainly not Demme's finest hour and one has to question why he sought to remake the film so passionately. With Demme in the director's chair, attracting an impressive cast (including the likes of Thandie Newton, Mark Wahlberg and Tim Robbins) was clearly not a problem. However, the actors are powerless in their struggle against the poor script - many of the character twists can be spotted from a lengthy distance, while credibility, especially in the case of the Reggie character, is frequently lacking. Overall, this is a sub-par thriller which is easily forgettable - the intrigue and thrills are severely limited thanks to a messy script. 4 out of 10 The Video Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, the film looks fairly good on this disc, but never truly sparkling. Black levels are solid, while sharpness is more than acceptable throughout. Some scenes in the film, especially later on, have a very distinct moods created through colours and the disc reproduces these very effectively. Thankfully, unwanted aliasing and noise fail to make a significant appearance, although the image does look quite grainy at times. Finally, as expected for such a new film, the source print used to create the transfer was free of any major damage, allowing the DVD image to look blemish free. Overall, therefore, this is a good disc all-round as far as the visuals are concerned. 8 out of 10 The Audio The 5.1 soundtrack delivers dialogue very cleanly, but ultimately fails to truly impress thanks to underusage of the surround speakers. Some music and periodic moments of gentle ambience are essentially the only elements to be heard from behind. The premise for a more involving soundtrack was definitely present and it's a shame that the sound design fails to fully exploit the frantic thriller genre. In summary, the disc sports an average soundtrack that performs its most basic duties competently but rarely tries to tackle anything adventurous. 7 out of 10 The Extras Sadly, there is not a single extra to be found on this disc - not even a trailer or set of production notes. This is highly unconventional given Universal Pictures Video's recent track record, especially considering the lack of an additional DTS 5.1 soundtrack as well. On a sidenote, the menu screens are at least animated and presented with background sound in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. This complete lack of bonus material will be twice as frustrating for UK fans of the film since the US Region 1 disc is stocked with a fair number of items, such as an audio commentary by Director Jonathan Demme, talent notes, deleted scenes and a featurette, not to mention the entire original 1963 movie, Charade. The commentary from Demme would have been interesting to listen to thanks to his (somewhat inexplicable) passion for making the film. Similarly, it would have been interesting to see whether the deleted scenes were actually more than just bloat and could have been conceivably restored to make a better film. A few years before this title was released, this inequality of bonus material between the two sides of the Atlantic would have been expected and perhaps even tolerated. Today, however, the increasing number of Region-savvy DVD fans, in their perpetual hunt for the most comprehensive set of extras, will be quick to abandon this UK release in favour of a foreign counterpart. 0 out of 10 RATINGS SUMMARY Movie
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