# Thomas Crown Affair, The (1999)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes
    RATING (0 TO ****):  ** 1/2

Hollywood is a hotbed of ideas these days. Financial ones.

Having decided to marshal its resources on fewer films, the studio executives are hard at work searching for lucrative approaches. The safest path to riches? Remakes. Or so they seem to think.

After all, what's easier than remaking a movie that audiences have liked before? Start calling agents. Get yourself some bankable stars and a big name director, and start planning the marketing campaign.

As crass as this approach is, it does produce some modestly entertaining films, THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, directed by DIE HARD's John McTiernan, being one. Pierce Brosnan (the current James Bond) and Rene Russo (TIN CUP) replace Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, who starred in the original. Although this is not particularly inspired casting, neither is a bad choice.

As suave billionaire Thomas Crown, Pierce Brosnan looks dashingly handsome, no surprise there. Crown is a kleptomaniac for the fun of it. He's the type who bets $100,000 on a single golf stroke. He wagers not because he thinks he'll make the putt but because he just enjoys the thrill of the gamble. He's also a playboy who draws women to him like flies to honey. With Brosnan's looks and charm, this is probably the easiest part of the story to believe.

The performance by the usually reliable Rene Russo is another matter entirely. This version of the movie focuses on the romantic aspects of the relationship between the rich thief and his insurance investigating nemesis, Catherine Banning (Russo). Russo, who has used her sexuality as a sideline in other films, is asked to make it a key part of this character.

Perhaps because action director McTiernan is unable to give her proper guidance or perhaps because of her harsh, heavy make-up, Russo delivers a performance that's sometimes funny, but too often stiff. The low points of the film are when she takes her clothes off. Trying without much success to recreate Elizabeth Shue's whiskey scene in LEAVING LAS VEGAS, Russo ends up appearing awkward, as if she'd never made love before.

The setup for the movie has a Trojan horse full of burglars delivered to what is clearly the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. (The press kit claims that it wasn't meant to be any real museum. Sure.) The crime goes awry, but between mergers and acquisitions, rich businessman Crown manages to steal a $100,000,000 painting anyway.

As the tough, by-the-book Detective Michael McCann, Denis Leary gives the funniest performance in the movie. When a tony insurance investigator (Banning) invades his turf, the detective is not pleased, especially when she uses effective but illegal and unethical techniques in going after Crown. "Do you have any idea how many flesh-eating lawyers this guy is going to have?" he asks her in frustration. The negative chemistry between the two is delicious. "So, are the laws of the United States completely unknown to you?" he asks her rhetorically.

As soon as Banning tells Crown that she knows he did it, the movie becomes a cat-and-mouse game. The script at its best finds especially clever ways for Crown to trick Banning and the cops and for her to discover his secrets. At its worst, as in the bizarre character of Crown's psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway), the movie becomes ridiculous. "Oh dear, Peter Pan decides to grow up and finds there's no place to land," his psychiatrist chides him in a typically asinine line. This subplot is a needless distraction in a film that needs more focus and energy. For work of a director known for his proclivity to blow things up, the movie moves at a remarkably languid pace.

Even if you can guess parts of the ending, the exact way the story gets resolved is a genuine treat. Full of inventiveness and audience pleasing twists, the story ends on an especially satisfying high note.

THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR runs 1:51. It is rated R for sex, nudity and language. If the few nude scenes had been deleted, which would have been a decided improvement, the movie would have been rated PG-13 and appropriate for kids 10 and up. As it is, the movie would be fine for those 15 and up.

Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com

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