Review

Review Date: 7-November-04
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Alfie (2004)

Well, this is a surprise. Of the movies on my plate this weekend I expected "Alfie" to impress me the least, but here I am sitting down to praise it as the best of the three. Granted, it's more in synch with my thoughts of late than resurrected superheroes or middle-aged bachelors on the make, but I submit that "Alfie"'s charms don't reside solely in the mood of the beholder; this remake boasts an affecting story that combines both style and substance.

In a role that really ought to make him a star (it seems like people keep saying that), Jude Law takes on the character made famous by Michael Caine almost 40 years ago. The new Alfie is a limousine driver living in New York whose single hobby is the company of women, from back-seat quickies with lonely clients to almost-relationships with single mothers in the comforts of home. He's not an unfeeling bastard exactly, but rather a stunted individual with low self-esteem who doesn't understand or trust emotional connections and therefore applies himself to avoiding them. Of course, he doesn't view himself in this light (falling for his own puerile charm and bargain-basement chic like his conquests), which is how he has advanced well into adulthood with the confident swagger of a man without a care in the world. ("I'm always all right!" he blusters on more than one occasion.)

The movie spans a number of months during which Alfie's seemingly imperturbable veneer of libidinous nonchalance begins to develop some cracks. While the oft-bandied thesis that life teaches people the lessons they need for salvation is dubious at best, Law and director/co-writer Charles Shyer depict Alfie's potentially momentous ordeals with great polish and conviction. For the first time ever, Law communicates that he has a pulse strong enough to move an audience to its rhythm, making Alfie a heartbreaker in more sense than one. He is helped by frequent instances of direct address to the camera (a technique that often backfires but works perfectly here), and by an excellent supporting cast that includes Omar Epps and Nia Long as friends whom Alfie estranges; Marisa Tomei as the one who got away; Sienna Miller as a lover too frail to play Alfie's game; and Susan Sarandon as his older, female counterpart, who hands him a striking blow that also took me by appreciative surprise.

Shyer paints Alfie's story against bold colors and dazzling cityscapes suggestive of both the allure of superficiality and the vibrant potential of life for those brave enough to risk it. At the end of the film we don't know whether Alfie will join the legions of risk-takers or fall back into his old, shallow lifestyle out of fear and force of habit. But having accompanied him en route to the crossroads, we leave with the feeling that his choice and his question — what's it all about? — are mighty important ones.

Copyright © 2004 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.