I am always interested in movies that take a look at life in a different way. Even those that do so by remaking something old have things to offer the moviegoer. Alfie is just one of those films. It shows us how life really is and it doesn't try to sugarcoat it by giving us a traditional happy ending despite what might have come before.
It's not the best film, in fact, far from it. The writing is at times rushed or has a rehearsed feeling to it. The actors do not have the chemistry that one would hope for in a movie such as this.
Jude Law is a fine actor, even better than that perhaps. He has style and charisma. He also has an element of class that no one since Cary Grant has had. I don't want to compare him to Grant in any other way, but in this he is certainly an equal. Even his character in Alfie has class, despite how arrogant and naive he really is. In the end, I wonder whether the audience is supposed to be sympathetic to his plight or not. I mean sure he brought this upon himself and he deserves no more than he gets. Yet, are we still supposed to feel for him?
The film has certainly been updated from the original. Is it any better? I wouldn't say so. Despite Michael Caine's excellent performance in the original, Law really is a better sort of actor for the part. Marisa Tomei was excellent as Law's on and off 'regular' girlfriend. Sienna Miller was a little bizarre, but than she was supposed to be I think. And Susan Surandon, what can I say, she wasn't stellar as she often is, but she really didn't have a lot to work with.
The movie was entertaining at best, but I love the different approach it attempts to bring to movie writing.
Direction was Average. Acting was Average. Cinematography was Average. Writing was Below Average.
Overall a C+, perhaps a decent weekday rental if there's nothing else to watch.
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