Stylish movie hits us over the head...

I kind of like Jude Law. Good actor, stylish guy, hilarious when he hosted SNL a while back - did a great impression of Tony Blair. And he's good in this. Does a good job balancing the suave exterior and tortured interior that the titular character demands, and his monologues to the camera are very well done - much less stiffly than in the original film.

The female characters all do a very good job as well - Susan Sarandon, Marisa Tomei, Jane Krakowski, Nia Long, and Sienna Miller - in each playing a different part of the world that Jude Law needs to show the growth - or total lack of growth - that he shows in the film.

The movie is gorgeous, doing a great job recreating New York in the English set. Great cinematography, great lighting - little heavy-handed in the blue wash about two-thirds of the way through the movie. The costumes are outstanding.

And the movie stinks. We meet the main character as he begins to look inward an evaluate his life and where he's headed, but he sets that aside and continues bouncing woman to woman as he has been. And by the end of the movie, Alfie tells us - in a long, unneeded, over-written monologue - that he's looking for meaning in his life and wondering whether his life hasn't been wasted.

I remember reading somewhere that voice over is the fallback of a weak director, that a good writer does say "Jimmy is sad" but rather lets Jimmy act sad and allows us to get that through his actions and dialogue. Here, the voice over is a crutch that just isn't needed. It's neat, and it's well done, but it's too much.

And the movie didn't go anywhere. The character seems to be the same at the beginning and at the end, just with a better understanding of the kind of guy he is.

I haven't seen the original, so I can't compare, but the new Alfie isn't much to worry about going out to see...

A quick shout out for Omar Epps who makes something impressive out of an absolutely tiny role...