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The Truth About Charlie
2002
Jonathan Demme's THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE is a swirling romantic suspense thriller, a remake of the 1963 Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn vehicle, CHARADE. Set in Paris, the film stars Thandie Newton as a British ex-pat whose art dealer husband is murdered while she's on vacation. Arriving home, she is met with an empty apartment, .. Read more
| Starring | Mark Wahlberg, Thandie Newton, Tim Robbins, Ted Levine |
|---|---|
| Director | Jonathan Demme |
| Genres | Thriller |
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The Truth About Charlie
Jonathan Demme's THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE is a swirling romantic suspense thriller, a remake of the 1963 Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn vehicle, CHARADE. Set in Paris, the film stars Thandie Newton as a British ex-pat whose art dealer husband is murdered while she's on vacation. Arriving home, she is met with an empty apartment, the French police, and an array of mysterious thugs who believe she knows where her husband stashed six million stolen dollars. Mark Wahlberg plays the handsome, beret-sporting stranger who comes to her rescue, but who may not be what he seems. Special mention goes to Tim Robbins as a shadowy American agent, and Christine Boisson as the cool-as-nails police commandant trying to get to the bottom of the matter.
Demme's direction pulls out all the stops here, with dizzying camerawork, experimental flash-forwards and insane editing. It's a return to the Oscar-winner's pre-SILENCE OF THE LAMBS days, when his specialty were cameo-studded, pop-infused romantic comedy thrillers like MARRIED TO THE MOB and SOMETHING WILD. This time the cameos celebrate the 1960's French New Wave cinema with appearances by crooner Charles Aznavour, director Agnes Varda, and--singing a mad tango--ex-Godard icon Anna Karina.
| Starring | Mark Wahlberg, Thandie Newton, Tim Robbins, Ted Levine, Joong-Hoon Park |
|---|---|
| Director | Jonathan Demme |
| Studio | UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK VIDEO RENTAL |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 39 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Thriller |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 29 Sep 2003 Production year: 2002 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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Expectations are automatically lowered for remakes of Hollywood classics — in this case, the classic is Stanley Donen's effervescent Hitchcock-homage Charade — but this is far worse than imagined. From the insipid, spark-free pairing of Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton (not the obvious replacements for Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn) to the restless hand-held camerawork, this is a film with a fatal disregard for audience involvement. It's a real underachievement for Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme, who at least stays fairly close to the original's Paris-set story about the pursuit of a dead man's hidden fortune. However, all of the most suspenseful sequences have been stripped of intrigue or removed completely. Demme clearly isn't playing it safe, bringing in an international supporting cast and adding touches of surrealist humour, but there isn't a single scene or performance that doesn't feel awkward or misjudged.
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A remake of the 1963 thriller Charade, with Wahlberg no substitute for the original's Cary Grant; no doubt to conceal his inadequacies Demme directs in the style of a French New Wave movie, as if Godard were still in fashion.
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Most helpful member's review
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6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
Remaking the Truth
"The Truth About Charlie", is a modern remake of the classic film "Charade" (starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn) 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 secrets of her husband's secret past. As is almost always the case, this new take on the story is 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. Even with an impressive cast (including the likes of Thandie Newton, Mark Wahlberg and Tim Robbins) 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. -
Most recent members' review
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
appalling
I have seen and loved the original with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant and was interested to see what another director and thirty odd years could bring to the film.
The answer - nothing!
The acting wooden is in the extreme, it's poorly paced, and changes to the plot made it too difficult to follow (and who really cares?)
My only question is what was Tim Robbins doing in this film? -
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