ALFIE – Jude Law, Susan Sarandon
Alfie (2004)
Direction: Charles Shyer
Screenplay: Elaine Pope and Charles Shyer; from Bill Naughton’s 1964 play and 1966 screenplay, which were based on Naughton’s 1962 radio play Alfie Elkins and His Little Life
Cast: Jude Law, Susan Sarandon, Marisa Tomei, Jane Krakowski, Omar Epps, Sienna Miller, Nia Long
Jude Law in Alfie
A major financial flop that received — at best — mixed reviews, Charles Shyer’s Alfie remake deserved better. This dramatic comedy about a thirty-something supreme narcissist who must shag every good-looking woman in sight until he is taught a Lesson is no worse than other trendy, moralizing films like the well-received About a Boy and Bridget Jones’ Diary. In fact, Alfie is actually better than these two and than most of the product currently being churned out by film studios and independent filmmakers everywhere — though, really, that’s not saying much.
Despite its good intentions, a charming star turn by Jude Law, and beautiful cameos by Susan Sarandon and Marisa Tomei, Alfie can’t really be called a good movie. It passes the time the way its lead character passes his time: taking its voyeuristic audience from bed to limo backseat, doing lots of wink-winking, and pretending to offer depth and intimacy when all it’s willing to give us is a pleasant but inconsequential lay.
Back in 1966, Bill Naughton adapted his own play for the film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Michael Caine. In that version, Alfie is an embittered, lower-class jerk who calls women "birds" and refers to them using the pronoun "it," his only real friend being a cute mutt that follows him around the streets of Swinging London. With its vivid portrait of a place and an era, the film struck a chord with audiences in Britain and abroad; Caine became a star, and was nominated for an Academy Award along with Naughton, Vivien Merchant (as the woman who has an abortion), the title song (by Burt Bacharach and Hal David), and the film itself.
The mutt is nowhere to be found in the 2004 version. That may seem mean on the part of co-writers Shyer and Elaine Pope — I mean, Alfie hasn’t a single friend left at the end? — but then again, Jude Law’s Alfie has so much more going for him than Caine’s ever did. He has magazine-cover good looks, a sparkling smile, great clothes, a bubbly personality, and a rosy outlook on life. He doesn’t have sex with women as a misogynistic act of aggression or as a form of class-conscious self-affirmation. Sexual intercourse with the liberated women of 2004 New York City is all for (mutual) fun.
This Alfie also has a good heart. When he crosses the line, as when he impregnates the girlfriend (Nia Long) of one of his good friends (Omar Epps), he feels really sorry afterwards. Sure, this Alfie is a sort of cad as well — but he’s such a cute, likable one. Even so, he must pay for having all those multiple partners: besides the threat of impotence and even cancer in his genital area (AIDS is less of an issue because Alfie is a regular condom user), there are the inevitable rejections that take place several times throughout the narrative. The beautiful and mature Julie (Marisa Tomei), for instance, goes her own way and finds another boyfriend long before the final fadeout. Poor, lonely Alfie can only look from a distance at the intimacy his former girlfriend shares with her new man.
Although that scene works well because of Law’s and Tomei’s subtle playing, this softening up of Alfie’s character ultimately detracts from the film. Since Shyer and Pope desperately want us to like Alfie, they refrain from revealing this man’s selfish heart in all its coldness. After all, friends, no matter how drunk, don’t shag friends’ girlfriends. In Alfie, however, it’s just a blood-alcohol-level accident. No harm intended. Indeed, this 2004 Alfie is such a nice cad that when hot and horny older woman Susan Sarandon (politely) tells him off in a touching scene — thanks to Sarandon’s superbly controlled playing — her bluntness seems uncalled for. I mean, why would she want to hurt poor, little Alfie’s feelings?
Now, considering that Sarandon’s character (above) has been successfully playing Alfie’s game for even longer than he has — and has been doing quite well at it, thank you — where did her moral high ground come from? Nearly forty years of feminism is the answer. According to Alfie, it’s ok for an experienced woman of the world to act like a cad, but if it’s a man doing the same thing, no matter how puppy-doggishly cute and cuddly the guy in question, he must pay for it. Call it Hollywood karma: retribution for all the machismo-on-film of past and present.
Thus, while fifty-something Sarandon finds herself a cute kid, Alfie ends up all alone. That, however, may not be such a bad comeuppance if one compares his plight to that of the psychotically dysfunctional couple working at the limo office. Charles Shyer, Elaine Pope, and company may not think so, but sometimes being alone — and/or having multiple partners — can be more satisfying than being in a relationship simply for the sake of being with someone — anyone.
What keeps Alfie from drowning in the mushiness of its moralizing message are two ingredients in the film — one good, one bad. The bad one is Charles Shyer’s penchant for using alienating freeze-frames and quick cuts as a demonstration of trendy filmmaking. The good ingredient is Jude Law. The British sex symbol is a generally competent actor who’s been getting a big buildup of late. Even though his 2004 movies have all been major box-office disappointments, Law himself doesn’t disappoint as the womanizing Englishman losing himself inside Manhattanites Sarandon, Tomei, Long, Jane Krakowski, and Sienna Miller.
Even the absence of a fourth wall between the audience and the film’s lead, always a dangerous proposition, succeeds remarkably well in Alfie because of Law’s consummate Cary Grant-like charm. It’s easy to believe that all those women would fall for this lovable horndog, whose chief concern is to keep on trying to satisfy both his insatiable ego and his equally insatiable libido.
What’s it all about? Agreeable, superficial, glitzy filmmaking trying to pass for a profound depiction of 21st-century relationships. Or perhaps it’s all about an animal-rescue promo disguised as a film: Adopt Alfie as a pet.
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Tags: Alfie, Charles Shyer, Dramatic Comedies, Elaine Pope, Film Reviews, Jude Law, Marisa Tomei, Susan Sarandon
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