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THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR Send This Review to a Friend
Rene Russo is sexy enough to raise blood pressure in the remake of the 1968 film that teamed Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway and was directed by Norman Jewison. Pierce Brosnan is handsome, suave and natty as Crown. Together Russo and Brosnan sizzle, an ingredient that gives the new version steady strength, although their big lovemaking scene itself is spoiled by excess scoring, frilly camerawork and coy efforts to avoid anything stronger than an R rating.
The new version, sumptuously filmed by director John McTiernan from an updated script by Leslie Dixon and Kurt Wimmer, is pure escapism. It is lightweight but reasonably enjoyable for what it is. Brosnan as Crown is a wealthy New York financial wheeler-dealer and art lover, and Russo as Catherine Banning is a clever insurance company executive called in to find the mastermind behind the theft of a Monet from a museum, obviously meant to be the Metropolitan. It doesn't take her long to deduce that the villain is Crown. Sherlock Holmes couldn't have done it more quickly. The cat and mouse game begins, complicated by the sexual sparks that immediately define the intense relationship.
Nothing is very believable, but if you are looking for credibility, this isn't your movie. The enjoyment lies in watching the stars, the gamesmanship and the love-or-betrayal situation that develops. Along the way there are some neat ploys stylishly filmed, plus good supporting performances by Faye Dunaway, this time a as Crown's psychiatrist, and Denis Leary as a police investigator who quietly is hot for Banning but is no match for Crown.
Russo is fun to watch. I can't think of an actress who has been as sexy in a film recently. She combines physicality with intelligence to suggest mature beauty. A figure-hugging see-through dress doesn't hurt either. Brosnan could shift into playing James Bond in the middle of the film without much of a character change, but there's nothing wrong with that. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer release.
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