The Thomas Crown Affair
Directed by John McTiernan
Starring Rene Russo, Pierce Brosnan, Denis Leary, Faye Dunaway,
Frankie Faison
On a break between Bond films, Pierce Brosnan plays a character not unlike...James Bond. This time, however, he is actually a gentleman thief who is one part corporate playboy and one part avid art lover. Rene Russo portrays the sexy insurance bounty hunter bent on retrieving the priceless Monet painting he has cleverly pilfered. And at all costs even if it means using her beautiful body. You already know where this is going, as this particular plot has been done countless times before. Sometimes better, sometimes not.
The movie begins well enough with an enjoyable, prolonged scene-of-the-crime sequence, and it ends with one that tries hard to be fun even if it's not exciting. Everything in between is flirtation and fancy footwork, whether on the dance floor or in the proverbial sack. Brosnan's backside is briefly revealed, but Rene Russo takes the prize for the film's most unnecessarily gratuitous moments in both a see-through dress and out of it. Of course, they will fall in love complicating everything, and much prattle is tossed around whether they can "trust each other" and if their burgeoning relationship can really satisfy either of them. Their interaction is at times cute and cuddly, but never very believable. Neither is anything else. Ultimately, this movie is so much fluff with all the typical Hollywood excesses galore. Russo is as stunning as the endangered art, but the movie is not. For a similar yarn that was a bit more interesting, and certainly less gratuitous, go rent Entrapment or hunt down the original Thomas Crown Affair with Faye Dunaway and Steve McQueen.
Steven S. Baldwin 8/25/99
