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| Directed by John McTiernan; Starring Rene Russo, Pierce Brosnan, Denis Leary, Esther Canadas, and Frankie Faison |
I must be one of the biggest fans of the Norman Jewison film The Thomas Crown Affair from 1968. With its suave stars (Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway) and its terrific look (thanks to Jewison’s direction and the cinematography of the great Haskell Wexler) the original The Thomas Crown Affair is a salute to experimental filmmaking in the 1960s. Now 31 years later I am forced through a remake that would have been better titled James Bond Gone Bad than The Thomas Crown Affair. Very little of the original still remains in this supposed remake. The only things that cause a similarity between the two: the main character is a wealthy trader named Thomas Crown, a robbery causes the interest of an insurance investigator that falls for Mr. Crown, and a fly in a plane over fields. The differences are much bigger and more important like the fact that the bank robbery in the original is now the stealing of a painting. Even the two main supporting (oxymoron?) characters have different names. Then of course there is the fact that the two have completely different and opposing endings (I remember a story where some writer changed the final line of a poem and in turn the poem completely opposed the statement it had made before the change; that is pretty much how this change works).
This version of The Thomas Crown Affair follows the relationship that blossoms between a white-collar thief (Brosnan) and the insurance officer investigating him (Russo). Along the way, she must meet the problems caused by police officer Michael McCann (Leary) who would rather be busting some thugs than after some painting. As stated before, the robbery involves a priceless painting that Crown steals for his own pleasure and for the thrill of the chase.
The opening and closing parts of the film are enjoyable (though the ending is pretty bad), but the rest of the film is near awful. Brosnan and Russo are sub-par (and by the way, I do not think that all that Rene Russo nudity was needed; Reese Witherspoon in Twilight: understandable, Rene Russo in The Thomas Crown Affair: no!). McTiernan has proven once again that he cannot direct and making me even more fearful about The 13th Warrior. None of the comic relief really works and neither of the stars show any real charisma (especially Russo). Still there were small moments that I liked in the film, as well as some nice quirky moments, but the film on a whole is a straight out disappointment. Do yourself a favor and rent the original instead.
