阿尔菲 Alfie review by Daniel Eagan

Transported from London to Manhattan, and updated by some 40 years, Alfie still retains enough charm and bite to win discerning audiences over again. In a role that confirmed Michael Caine as an international star, Jude Law gives a persuasive performance as a rake whose conscience stirs a bit too late. He holds together a film that veers from bawdy to grim with disarming ease.

Sporting a Cockney accent, Alfie (Jude Law) works as a limousine driver while bedding as many women as he can. He has a weekly fling with Dorie (Jane Krakowski), the neglected wife of an overworked businessman. Julie (Marisa Tomei), a single mother, offers food and a place to stay in hopes that she can get him to settle down. Lonette (Nia Long) turns to him after breaking up with her boyfriend Marlon (Omar Epps). The fact that Marlon and Alfie are planning to go into business together gives him pause, but only for a moment.

Lonette's subsequent pregnancy is a warning sign that Alfie chooses to ignore. Instead, he pursues an affair with wealthy entrepreneur Liz (Susan Sarandon) and a holiday fling with the seriously neurotic Nikki (Sienna Miller). It takes a health scare and a few well-earned personal reversals to make Alfie realize that his life is in a tailspin.

As Lewis Gilbert did back in 1966, director Charles Shyer brings a pop sensibility to a story that has an unsettling dark side. Rock music, hip locations, and fluid camerawork and editing add a seductive gloss to Alfie's life. Compared with the original, Shyer and co-writer Elaine Pope soften the lead character somewhat, and water down a few of playwright Bill Naughton's harsher bits. But then, in 1966 Alfie could get away with calling a woman 'it,' and slapping a girlfriend around was considered a man's right. For the most part, the filmmakers' choices make sense, and are certainly easier for contemporary audiences to understand.

For one thing, the in this Alfie looks like fun, whereas in the 1966 version had a tawdry feel. The cast seems energized by the chance to perform so provocatively. Sarandon and Miller are particularly uninhibited, while Long gives an expert course in pool as foreplay.

But this is really Jude Law's show. Physically he is perfect for the role, and he tosses off the often brittle dialogue with ease. Law has also mastered the difficult trick of talking to the camera, a technique used to great effect by Caine in the original. While Alfie won't topple any box-office records, it's a smart and serious work that deserves attention.

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