Alfie (2004)

If Western culture is a serpent eating its own tail, it follows that it will eventually choke on its own feces.

Put simply: the original version of Alfie was a Snake Feast. The watery, transparent 2004 Alfie, another redundant remake from the Selected Works of Sir Michael Bleedin' Caine, is Snake Sh*t.

One of the British box office hits of 1965, Alfie is a snapshot from a moment in history, a perfectly framed view of the Sexual Revolution from a working class perspective. It was both a highbrow sex farce and a populist kitchen sink drama with some wry observations about social class and convention thrown in, all held together by the magnetic presence of its star on the rise. Alfie's like a timeless character from Thackary who spends more than half his screen time justifying his appallingly rakish behavior to the audience; a vain, cocky yet insecure and neurotic Lothario attempting to escape responsibility and pain through a series of doomed sexual misadventures. He emerges at the end of the film unrepentant and only a little wiser, turning to the camera with the immortal tag-line "Wossit all abaht?" It's that timelessness the makers of Alfie '04 attempt to capitalize on in their grotesque carbon copy, updating its East End setting to lower Manhattan but with the female archetypes - or "birds" - left intact. There's the doormat girlfriend, the frustrated wife, and Susan Sarandon updates Shelly Winters' loud, vulgar 50-something man-eater as a slightly more classy 2004 model. A pointed comment on the eternal sexual condition? More like an industry that's fat, indolent, and believes the general public have a long-term memory no longer than six months. One can only imagine its audience are cocktail-guzzling Manhattan matrons with a yen for all things British, like Bridget Jones or Sarah Ferguson, and Jude Law's posterior. True, there are more shots of Law as Alfie "on the job" as it were, but those are mighty big shoes he's walking in. Jude Law comes across affable and worldly and tosses in the odd Caine-ism, but on final judgment is a pale streak of snake sh*t not worthy to fill Sir Michael's Italian loafers.

Maybe that's the problem. Caine's Alfie is cold, calculating, and at times utterly repellent. One dubious conquest he refers to as "it" is set to work as his personal slave, and then cast off for showing too much affection. Alfie '04 attempts to sanitize him, sand off some of the uncomfortable un-PC angles. Alfie 65's moment of truth arrives when the dumpy middle-aged wife of his hospital chum asks Alfie for a backyard abortion (Alfie only slept with her, mind you, to help his lunch go down). As he stares down at his miniature reflection, Caine's face is a contorted mask of pure sorrow. Law's moment of truth in Alfie '04 - no plot spoilers here - is so wide of the mark it's an insult. Strip the character of his tics and grimaces and cutesy cockney patter, and ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Invisible Man.

Even more offensive is the use of 60s pop art icons to evoke the original's aura of cool. A Chet Baker poster, Alfie's scooter - in fact the entire coke-smeared, boots and fur coated, Nico-meets-Julie Christie coquetry of the Nikki character, played by Sienna Miller. The Clash once sang "No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones in 1977" and the same can be said about Alfie. That Golden Age of popular cinema in the Sixties could actually be about experimenting with

Fmovies: Reading the other reviews made me wonder if this is the type of movie only certain people like. I went to this movie with a group of my female friends expecting another annoying and boring romantic comedy. I personally didn't want to see it much because I deplore the values presented in so many movies, but the fact that I love Jude Law swayed me. I was very surprised to find that Alfie really isn't much of a romantic comedy. Yes, it is somewhat funny and it is about romance, but if you forced me to describe it I'd have to tag it with 'philosophical social satire.' No, I'm not tagging this as a substitute for Rousseau, but people familiar with satires might find it along the lines of Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Provost's Manon Lescaut, or Petroniu's Satyricon. Though admittedly not of the same caliber the themes of the emptiness of those immersed in 'immorality' and the innate human desire for satisfying relationships are portrayed admirably. I can call this satire though only of my own interpretations- in my opinion this movie ridicules Alfie's immoral lifestyle quite satirically. No matter what your interpretation, I don't see how this movie could be seen as glamorizing his lifestyle. Let me tell you that I was not laughing when I walked out of the theater and there were parts of this movie that made me shed tears. You don't need an appreciation of satire to enjoy this movie though- Law's acting is amazing and he's also gorgeous, the story interested most of my friends and I, and the cinematography is very chic. While it's by no means perfect, I think it deserves the 3.5/4 stars the Chicago Tribune gave it.

The tagline for the new film 'Alfie' ask us, what's it all about? The answer, unfortunately, is that it's about sheer disappointment.

The film focuses solely on Alfie Elkins, a swinging young womanizer packed with style and a charm that could only be British. After an all too brief introduction to our protagonist and his long list of lady-friends, some kind of plot begins to develop – sort of. We move through far too many completely unrelated situations, all of which only have any relevance at all because of their connection to our main character.

The film does almost nothing to stay focused on a character or situation long enough to develop anything genuine; one minute we have the beginnings of a story with one girl, the next minute we're on to something completely different. You may hope that the film returns to these unfinished story arcs, but it rarely does. And those special times when the story comes back to something that was left unfinished, the film manages to once again leave the story too quickly, adding further loose ends and unresolved issues.

This episodic structure does give the film a pace that is representational of Alfie's dating life – constantly moving from one thing to another, never letting anything unfold – but this does not work to the advantage of the film. Rather than giving it an interesting structure that parallels the story, it creates confusion and disorientation, and even worse than that – a loss of the empathy for the characters that would be present if the film took the time to develop characters and stories properly.

In fact, just about everything in the film lacks conviction, particularly in the places where it is needed the most; moments that should provoke emotion tend to leave the audience wanting something more substantial, which once again is an issue with the film's poor use of development.

If it weren't for Jude Law's charming performance as Alfie Elkins, the film would collapse entirely under its own poor craft. Of course, this is not at all to say that Law saves the film; he does nothing of the sort. His performance, strong as always, just happens to stop the film from being a complete waste of time. His energy is strong and his talent is clear, but it is not enough to bring the film to that next level of quality.

The photography and cinematography, while positively beautiful at times, is staggeringly inconsistent and often not at all fitting to the film's needs. Portions of the film are very nicely photographed, which almost seems like a waste of talent. A spiffy paint job on a car may be appealing to the eye, but why even bother if the car doesn't have an engine? This is precisely what Alfie is all about: some nice looks and a fairly strong performance, but sadly there is no engine to be found.

Alfie fmovies. Remakes are always a problem for the critic, whether or not he or she has seen the original. Here we have an American remake in 2004 of a British film made by Lewis Gilbert in 1966, itself an adaptation of a stage play by Bill McNaughton from the early 60s. The creative process is not easy to track in these circumstances, even though the DVD I saw has two sets of audio-commentary by the director, Charles Shyer, and others.

In this version Alfie is still the chirpy cockney Lothario, but operating as a chauffeur in lower Manhattan rather than London. His women are characters derived from the 1966 film, but glamorised somewhat. Alfie's philosophy, delivered face to camera, as in the first film, is the same – love 'em and leave 'em.

As Alfie, Jude Law channels Michael Caine in the 1966 film but puts his own stamp on the role. Jude is exactly right for the part and makes Alfie both repellent and sympathetic. We are left hoping he will mend his ways but thinking there's not much chance of that. For Alfie, there is no answer to the question posed in the song "What's it all about?" The music, written and performed by another hardy survivor of swinging London in the 60s, Mick Jagger (and others) is a pleasant feature, and Alfie's girls are undeniably attractive. (During filming Jude Law and Sienna Miller became an item – that's method acting for you.) Charles Shyer tells us in the audio-commentary that he set out to be stylish and there's considerable use of split-screen technique and some fancy cutting. Using Manchester, Liverpool and London as Manhattan as well as Manhattan itself for location shooting must have caused some production problems, though most of them seemed to have been overcome in post-production.

This 2004 version did decent business in the UK but bombed in the US. Why? The hero is a Brit, but then so is James Bond. The women are all accomplished actresses and Susan Sarandon delivers a standout performance. There is plenty of relatively tasteful humour but no happy ending, just "life goes on". The pace is fast enough and Shyer slaps on plenty of "style", but what we are seeing is the 1966 film lite. A period piece set in the wrong period. Elaine Pope, who co-wrote the screenplay with Shyer, was well aware that women are now less inclined to be doormats for feckless men like Alfie, and adjusted the female parts accordingly, but ultimately we have a movie 40 years out of its time.

This was one of the worst movies that I have been subjected to in a long time. It didn't quite know if it was: A) a chick flick because of Jude Law consuming the screen every single moment B) a manly flick because of all the hot women running around half naked.

C) Or just a hodge podge of doomed relationships/one night stands.

The movie didn't quite know what it was and left us in the same perturbed state as its main character.

Jude was adorable, the NYC life was fun to watch, but overall the movie lacked substance. And not to mention the lack of social awareness when it came to the women in the film.

Stay away... unless of course you have an undying love for Jude Law. But after sitting through this your love will wither away!

What's it all about? (opening line from the original-movie 1966)

"Alfie" is a remake of the 1966 British film that made an international star of Michael Caine. It takes a story very much associated with a particular time and place -- London in the swinging '60s -- and successfully transplants it to modern-day New York City. The cockney lothario played by Caine has been turned into a working-class British émigré played by Jude Law, who makes Alfie a bit less cockney and a bit more self-aware.

Alfie's a smooth talking Londoner in New York who does his very best to avoid succumbing to the dreaded 'c' word commitment. Along the way, we're introduced to some of his ladies on the go – Dorie, Julie, Liz and Nikki, to name but a few.

Like the earlier "Alfie," it's the story of a sexually promiscuous man. Alfie (Law), a chauffeur, lives in a small Manhattan apartment and dedicates his life to seducing women. Talking directly into the camera, and preening with a self-satisfaction so complete as to seem a form of innocence, he expounds on clothes, the proper application of cologne and the various rules he employs in his libidinous pursuits. His goal, it seems, is to have sex with as many women as possible but to get close to none of them.

Each one starts off as a fling, but somehow manages to influence Alfie's life. He slowly starts to realize that he is actually alone and that there is more to life than what he has done so far.

Like the earlier "Alfie," the new version could be called a cautionary tale, about a way of life that leads to the existential confusion embodied in the famous catchphrase, "What's it all about?"

Anyone we know in it? Jude Law is fresh and funny as Alfie, with just the right amount of smug attitude. The stunning Sienna Miller is the beautiful but 'damaged' Nikki, and Susan Sarandon sizzles as the sexy older woman, Liz. There's also Marisa Tomei (Julie), Nia Long (Lonette) and Omar Epps plays Alfie's best friend, Marlon.

Would I recommend it? Definitely. Although remakes do not usually come through smelling of roses, this one does. It's fresh, colourful and funny. Jude Law is magnificent, introducing us to a slightly warmer side of Alfie than Michael Caine.