Ostensible remake and update of Charade, but really more of a private party thrown by director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, etc.), who uses the date and place of the Stanley Donen original -- 1963, Paris -- to rationalize a French New Wave theme for the party: cameo appearances by Agnes Varda, Anna Karina, Charles Aznavour; a couple of clips of the last-named in Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player; a visit to Truffaut's grave during the closing credits; even some rough simulations of the on-the-run, shoot-from-the-hip, hand-held camerawork in vogue at the time. He also digs up a French poster of The Birds as a reminder of the exact year of the original, not to mention a reminder that it was classified as "Hitchcockian," not to mention a reminder that the French in general (Truffaut in specific) were in the vanguard of Hitchcock appreciation. Much of this will be missed by the average Mark Wahlberg fan, who will nonetheless be uneasily aware that he's missing something. In any event, the pacing is too soporific to foster much of a party mood. Thandie Newton, who worked with the director in Beloved, at times echoes the peculiar speech patterns of the original's Audrey Hepburn, but she has charms of her own in addition. Wahlberg, meanwhile, never at any point evokes Cary Grant. Which is not a bad thing in itself. The bad thing, or anyhow the unexceptional, the unexciting thing, is that he never evokes anyone other than Mouth-Breather Wahlberg. With Tim Robbins, Christine Boisson, Ted Levine. (2002) — Duncan Shepherd
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