Alfie Movie Review:


It's unclear why you'd remake the 1966 British romp, which was a product of its time (and introduced the world to Michael Caine). I've never seen the original all the way through, so I'm not judging this remake by that standard. And while this one does have a certain charm, it's also fundamentally, fatally flawed.

Alfie (Law) is a handsome Englishman in Manhattan, where he drives a limo and enjoys the commitment-free life. But his "quasi-girlfriend" Julie (Tomei) wants more out of him, and his coworker Marlon (Epps) is settling down with his girlfriend (Long). So Alfie starts thinking. Sort of. He starts a relationship with a party girl (Miller) and then begins to fall in love with a sexy businesswoman (Sarandon). He's on a journey into Important Life Lessons here, but will he finally be able to answer that question: What's it all about?

Duh! It's an American remake! In other words, it's moralising and preachy that poor Alfie couldn't miss the message if he tried. Where the character badly needs a streak of ironic nastiness, the filmmakers insert a soft, mushy centre instead. We never believe he's a misogynist womaniser--all four women he beds in the film carry strong emotional baggage for him. For a film about sexual irresponsibility, this is far too puritanical and sanitised. The script is just not clever enough for the subject matter, taking a simplistic, watered-down route through what should be thought-provoking subject matter.

And there's another problem: The role needs someone who gets by on charisma more than looks. Law is a Greek god who comes across as oily and smug when he lays on the charm. And it doesn't help that he's directed to deliver the straight-to-camera narration in such a swaggering way, making him even smarmier. In the dramatic scenes, Law is excellent and likeable; but in his chatty commentary he's borderline despicable. The surrounding cast is good--Epps and Long get the emotional scenes, Sarandon is in sexy Bull Durham mode, Tomei adds substance in surprising ways. But the film is far too excited about itself, and Shyer's attempts to generate sympathy for this supposedly broken man are completely wasted.

Rich Cline

Alfie (Law) loves women and women adore him. As an English man in Manhattan he has the fairer sex falling at his feet, hardly ever sleeping in his own bed. With a self confessed aversion to commitment and seeing marriage as a dirty woman, Alfie lives his life the way he wants to but as he gets older and as his friends start to find love, he starts to feel he might actually be missing out.

The trend of remaking Sir Michael Caine’s best 60s movies continues but is Alfie any better than The Italian Job or Get Carter remakes?

Michael’s classic cockney womaniser is brought into the 21st century and moved from London to New York. He changes from the handsome, cheeky chap into ladies favourite pretty boy, Jude Law losing that rugged appeal of the 60s for the metro-sexual look of the new millennium but in a way it works. He is still the cheeky chappy, bed-hopping lothario who talks to camera, revealing his inner feelings and opinions to the audience that really endears the character to you.

The appeal of this version of Alfie is solely down to the performance of Jude Law. One of the busiest actors working today, he is one of the few thespians you can count on to always provide a great performance and create a relatable character. His Alfie is no different. This is a man who women will adore and men will want to be for the first half of the movie. In the latter half, as the character starts to realise that his joyous, uncomplicated life is quite what is it cracked up to be. Law shines in both sides of the role and is testament to his talent as an actor that he can transform a character in such a way that you still find him convincing.

The plethora of lovely ladies provides great support for Jude Law. Marisa Tomei continues to force herself back into the limelight and prove that her Oscar win wasn’t just a fluke. As Julie, the semi-girlfriend of Alfie, she produces a performance that makes the single mother who loves him very appealing and quite sympathetic. You actually feel sorry for her when she discovers Alfie’s philandering ways. Nia Long is also good as Alfie’s best friend’s girlfriend Lonette. The character goes from fun loving girl to heartbroken woman and Long portrays this very successfully. The same can be said about Sienna Miller (Law’s real life girlfriend). Her character Nikki is Alfie’s perfect woman, beautiful, extremely sexy and a joy to be with but as we know Alfie doesn’t do long term and Miller’s Nikki really shows you why. This is a good performance from a young actress that deserves more praise than she is getting because she is just seen as the lead actor’s current girlfriend. Bringing a bit of class to the production is Susan Sarandon. She plays Liz, a late forties, female version of Alfie that the man is instantly drawn to. They seem perfect for each other but the similarities are destined to tear them apart. This is another great performance by Sarandon, who is as watchable as ever.

With a fantastic lead and excellent support you might be thinking that this is looking like a great movie but you’d be wrong as the story lets it down. While the movie starts off extremely well, with Law’s Alfie instantly endearing you to the film but as the story progresses the picture falls into melodrama, as Alfie learns his valuable life lesson to become a shadow of his former self. While this was the inevitable outcome for the bed hopping character, you can’t help thinking that the filmmakers threw far too much at him and totally the man who we had really started to care about. This is a real shame, as the movie was very good before Alfie’s slide.

The trend for remaking classic movies will continue as long as Hollywood refuses to take chances on anything original. As a remake Alfie is not a bad effort but you can argue that it really didn’t need to be made, as the original is so good. The performances make it very watchable however and can’t help liking Alfie’s banter to the camera, making the movie better than it should have been.

Star Rating = * * *

Jamie Kelwick

 

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