The Thomas Crown Affair is an exception to the Hollywood rule that the remake must be true to the original. In 1968, Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway served up a 1960s sexy confection of skimpy clothes and clever heists. John McTiernan turns the flick into a sultry, almost jaded, romance. Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan, slick from practicing seduction as James Bond) is a power-lunching, billionaire robber-baron who gets his kicks stealing art treasures from taxpayer-supported museums. Catherine Olds Banning (played by the tough, but sexy Rene Russo) is the insurance company detective determined to get back the painting he steals at the beginning of the film. If she can get it, she will save her insurance conglomerate a nice chunk of change. The billionaire and the detective try everything to outsmart each other including a highly charged love affair that's a heated mix of business and pleasure. Russo looks very good with her clothes off.
The director's attention to the detail of the sumptuous, luxury sets, provides a suitably comfy backdrop for the steamy action. McTiernan also directs the action pieces almost as well as one might expect from the director Die Hard.
Brosnan and Russo supply most of the heat for the developing romance. The witty dialog by Leslie Dixon make the film move by with enough grace to paper over the fact that it is the sex we are interested in. Russo is beautiful, stylish, smart, self-possessed, and incredibly sexy.
Denis Leary gets a good character role as a police detective smitten with Russo, and Faye Dunaway (the love interest in 1968) gets a wholly enjoyable cameo as Brosnan's therapist, who helps him try to figure out why he is such an irresponsible business man.
One wonders now, after Enron, Tyco, and other big payoff corporate heists, just whom Crown is robbing to pay for his high-tech robbery crew. How many of his company's employees will have to give up their pensions or health benefits to keep his company looking good on Wall Street. Who cares? It's just a movie! Actually, it is a great date movie. Pop it in. See if it works.
The director's attention to the detail of the sumptuous, luxury sets, provides a suitably comfy backdrop for the steamy action. McTiernan also directs the action pieces almost as well as one might expect from the director Die Hard.
Brosnan and Russo supply most of the heat for the developing romance. The witty dialog by Leslie Dixon make the film move by with enough grace to paper over the fact that it is the sex we are interested in. Russo is beautiful, stylish, smart, self-possessed, and incredibly sexy.
Denis Leary gets a good character role as a police detective smitten with Russo, and Faye Dunaway (the love interest in 1968) gets a wholly enjoyable cameo as Brosnan's therapist, who helps him try to figure out why he is such an irresponsible business man.
One wonders now, after Enron, Tyco, and other big payoff corporate heists, just whom Crown is robbing to pay for his high-tech robbery crew. How many of his company's employees will have to give up their pensions or health benefits to keep his company looking good on Wall Street. Who cares? It's just a movie! Actually, it is a great date movie. Pop it in. See if it works.