In a movie world filled with over-blown action flicks, ridiculously implausible romances and excessive comedies, The Thomas Crown Affair stands out as a remake worth watching. In 1968, Norman Jewison directed this suspense-romance with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in the leads. In 1999, John McTiernan has taken a slightly re-worked script and featured Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo as the cat-and-mouse couple, this time with art theft as their mutual interest.
The premise is all Hollywood: dashing and wealthy man appears to be participating in major thefts as a hobby, and a beautiful woman sets out to catch him and maybe become captured by his charms. This might sound similar to 1955s To Catch a Thief and to another 1999 film, Entrapment, starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. But this one is different in many ways. For example, The Thomas Crown Affair is infinitely more restrained, witty and credible than Entrapment. We don't get ridiculous stunts and while we're kept guessing to the end, the plot twists don't seem like they've been layered on artificially. The unlikely scenario of investigator and her quarry becoming romantically involved is done so well that we actually believe it.
Part of the credit for the film's success must go to Brosnan and Russo, who are believable in their roles. While Russo's cool seductress takes a while to build credibility, Brosnan's got the wealthy playboy thing down to an art, and he's fine from the start. This role allows him to play a real world kind of James Bond, and he's entirely up to the task.
Even more appealing than the leads is the script, which is tightly edited and filled with smart lines. The plot unfolds smoothly, with the only extraneous scenes being Crown's visits to his therapist, played by Dunaway. While it's a nice touch to bring her back for the remake, these scenes add nothing to the film.
The locations, cinematography and music are extremely well done, adding to the playful atmosphere early on and helping build the tension as we approach the film's climax. We end up equally interested in the romantic outcome as we are in whether Crown will be caught red-handed.
Yes, this is another remake, and yes, it's a fluffy premise that's been done many times before. But this production is so good, none of that matters. The Thomas Crown Affair is smart, exciting and plain good fun.
