Date: Fri 27-Aug-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Thomas-Crown-Russo-Brosnan

Full Text:

NOW PLAYING: An "Affair" To Remember

By Trey Paul Alexander III

The release of The Thomas Crown Affair , a remake of the 1968 film starring

Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, ushered in a wave of press coverage and

articles on '99 leading lady Rene Russo, whose femme fatale turn here at age

45 was tagged to strive a significant blow on several fronts: her bold

prancing in a suggestive, shimmery black sheath of a gown during a dance

sequence showed that actresses over 40 need not be relegated simply to

character parts; her pairing with 46-year-old co-star Pierce Brosnan marked a

courtship of peers rather than Hollywood's more typical May-December match-ups

(such as Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment ; and the duo's

potent on-screen chemistry could teach some of Tinseltown's young

whippersnappers a thing or two.

All this makes for good print and interesting reading, but the fact remains

that Russo and Brosnan aren't flag bearers for reality here. The Thomas Crown

Affair isn't notable because it features "real people," but because it boasts

extremely attractive actors in lavish settings, surrounded by luxurious things

and draped in stylish clothes. Reality? Not by a long shot. But as

entertaining movie fantasy, it works quite well.

The premise revolves around a smooth New York City billionaire, Thomas Crown

(Brosnan), whose favorite pastime is swiping art masterpieces out from under

well-guarded galleries. He meets his match -- in more ways than one -- in the

cagey, indefatigable insurance investigator Catherine Banning (Russo), who

joins forces with city detectives to try to pin the burglaries on the

unflappable Crown. A cat and mouse game ensues between Crown and Banning as

her sleuthing takes her further and further into the appealingly opulent

lifestyle of the enigmatic financier.

The most talked about segment of the film -- the sequences in which Brosnan

and Russo make it all too conspicuous that they've been working out -- comes

in the middle portion of the movie as Banning and Crown become more intimate.

Quite frankly, it is too explicit to make its point. But the story does

legitimately ask the question, at this turning point in these characters'

relationship, can these two people, each with a sizable measure of deception

up their sleeves, go beyond the physical aspects of their attachment and grow

to know and, more importantly, trust one another emotionally?

In fact, it is this facet of The Thomas Crown Affair , and the proficient

manner in which it is conveyed by the cast, that breathes fresh life into the

flick. Despite their sanguine veneers, both Banning and Crown are fragile

individuals with eccentricities that the movie seeks to explain... or, at

least, to somewhat rationalize. To this end, Dunaway has a cameo as Crown's

shrink, a sideline commentator on what the rich bachelor's motivations may be.

In the other corner, Banning's conscience is most unexpected: a down-to-earth,

pragmatic detective (Denis Leary) who also envies her high-fashion, affluent

lifestyle. Leary, to his credit, declines to rest solely on his trademark

snide, caustic humor and shows a surprisingly versatile side to his acting in

this very layered performance.

As for the two leads, Brosnan and Russo click nicely and their match is

powered largely by the confidence they convey in both their characterizations

and themselves as skilled performers. Brosnan, playing off his recent

big-screen success as James Bond, effectively plays Crown as if he were Bruce

Wayne without the Batman fixation, and Russo radiates a type of winning

charisma that would make past co-stars Gibson, Costner, Eastwood and Travolta

proud.

The Thomas Crown Affair is rated R. It contains profanity and, in the

aforementioned middle segment, explicit sexuality.