It is somewhat unfair to compare Alfie 2004 with the original Alfie 1996. However, when the remake adds very little to the original then the comparison has to be made. The 1966 film was written by the Irish writer Bill Naughton and set in swinging London. Alfie was a truly original man, an original character at the time. The new Alfie is nothing novel but rather a half-hearted kickback to the good old sexist days.
I think the greatest difference in the remake is that whilst Bill Naughton's original work still forms the basis of the story, co-writers Charles Shyer and Elaine Pope have been brought in. Shyer is author of such American slushy films as Father of the Bride, Baby Boom, Irreconcilable Differences and Private Benjamin. Pope on the other hand has written for Seinfeld. With these two contributing you end up with a rather fascicle American, politically correct, bite less movie which leaves you with half a smile a lot of the time.
Jude Law as Alfie works well but it would have been good to have made him a little angrier, rather like the Michael Caine character. Marisa Tomei and Susan Sarandon both ply nice characters but unfortunately, the other support characters have little substance and, yet again, no bite. For instance, Sienna Miller is simply a dizzy blond and I neither felt sorry nor angry for her: she is boring. Nia Long plays the politically correct African American (read black) woman who Alfie gets pregnant but who again has little power to her performance. Is she angry, distraught, vaguely upset? It is hard to know.
In the original the supporting cast included: Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Jane Asher, Shirley Anne Field, Eleanor Bron, Denholm Elliott, Alfie Bass and Graham Stark. Unfortunately, there are no actors with such gravitas in the 2004 remake.
I think the greatest difference in the remake is that whilst Bill Naughton's original work still forms the basis of the story, co-writers Charles Shyer and Elaine Pope have been brought in. Shyer is author of such American slushy films as Father of the Bride, Baby Boom, Irreconcilable Differences and Private Benjamin. Pope on the other hand has written for Seinfeld. With these two contributing you end up with a rather fascicle American, politically correct, bite less movie which leaves you with half a smile a lot of the time.
Jude Law as Alfie works well but it would have been good to have made him a little angrier, rather like the Michael Caine character. Marisa Tomei and Susan Sarandon both ply nice characters but unfortunately, the other support characters have little substance and, yet again, no bite. For instance, Sienna Miller is simply a dizzy blond and I neither felt sorry nor angry for her: she is boring. Nia Long plays the politically correct African American (read black) woman who Alfie gets pregnant but who again has little power to her performance. Is she angry, distraught, vaguely upset? It is hard to know.
In the original the supporting cast included: Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Jane Asher, Shirley Anne Field, Eleanor Bron, Denholm Elliott, Alfie Bass and Graham Stark. Unfortunately, there are no actors with such gravitas in the 2004 remake.