Alfie: Movie & DVD Review (2004)

(Originally published 2004)

So, what’s it all about, this movie, “Alfie”? Is it still for the moment we live?

It is after significant changes were made to the 1966 original, which made Michael Caine a star. That film was released at the height of the sexual revolution and it was viewed as a grim comedy, with Caine’s swaggering lothario shagging his “birds” all over London, regardless of whether they were nesting with another or flying solo.

For Alfie, it didn’t matter. His life was about the hedonistic joy of the conquest--morality be damned. By the end of the movie, he is faced with the ugly ramifications of his behavior--a backstreet abortion for one of his mistresses, and the idea that Shelley Winters, of all people, dumps him. Still, there’s never any question that the sting Alfie feels at those moments will prevent him from reverting back to his old lifestyle. He is, after all, who he is.

It was a difficult role to pull off and Caine was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for his performance. Skillfully, he managed to be likeable in a wholly unlikable role.

Now, 38 years later, it’s safe to say that things have changed a bit. In the face of AIDS, post-feminism and the touchy air of hysteria that tends to accompany political correctness, the culture has redeveloped a sexual and moral conscience. Sometimes, that might be helpful--such as when trying to win an election--but it’s still contrary to everything “Alfie” was about.

Now set in New York City, this new “Alfie” has been Americanized by director Charles Shyer, which means that Alfie, now played by Jude Law, is going to have to eat his share of crow after recklessly bedding so many birds.

Along the way, he’ll be hammered with a fistful of life lessons, which will get under his skin to teach him what life is all about. He also will have to learn from his mistakes until the truth of who he is startles him into change.

It’s all unfortunate. What Shyer is ignoring is that Caine’s Alfie is still very much alive and burning his share of bridges with women today. He’s taken a still recognizable social rascal and turned him into a neutered, apologetic wimp.

The movie does mirror the culture in its interest in handsome, forgettable people moving glumly through beautiful rooms, but like a Prada ad, those sterile images are manufactured, they try too hard to be hip, and they become colorless onscreen.

A schmaltzy ending tries to bring retribution and transformation to a messy life, but it’s not steeped in anything real. There’s only the sense that the movie slumps into apologia because it would test well with today’s audiences, which demand retribution.

Law is punchy in a role that, mirroring the original, finds him directly addressing the camera with reflections on his free-wheeling lifestyle, but he’s too remote to be sympathetic and he has none of the dirty, bemused charm that carried Caine.

The female cast of fine actors--Marisa Tomei, Susan Sarandon, Jane Krakowski, Nia Long and Sienna Miller--join “Alfie” in that none of them is allowed to be especially memorable. Sarandon almost becomes the exception, but by the time she turns interesting, it’s too late to care.

Grade: C-