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The Truth About Charlie on DVD (2002)
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Radio Times
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.
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. Time Out It's all very well Demme wanting to get back to his lighter-hearted roots after message movies like Philadelphia and... Read more on www.timeout.com Members ReviewsReviews Voted Most HelpfulMost Recent Reviews |
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