Warren Beatty's remake -- nominally directed by Glenn Gordon Caron, but produced and co-written by Beatty -- of Leo McCarey's 1939 shipboard romance (remade by McCarey himself in 1957, as An Affair to Remember). In spite of the secondhandedness, the film must be acknowledged as a "personal" one for its in-jokey parallels to Beatty's off-screen abandonment of the bachelor life for the company of his co-star, Annette Bening. And the ruse by which Bening (in a persuasively charming performance) slows down Beatty's advances by leading him to believe he had long ago conquered that territory and forgotten about it is a fitting and poetic torment for the inveterate skirt-chaser. But better than "personal" film, perhaps it should be thought of as a "vanity" film, especially in view of the smoky, shadowy, soft-focus photography in which the aging star enshrouds himself: his co-star certainly doesn't require it. The production is top-drawer all the way, even after the lead characters opt to jump off the lap of luxury and under the shoe sole of hard labor. (A smidge of hypocrisy, possibly?) And the smallest of supporting parts is filled with talents of the size of Paul Mazursky, Garry Shandling, Rosalind Chao, on up to the queen-sized one of Katharine Hepburn. Anything to make Beatty look better. Looks being everything. (1994) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.