Release Date: August 6, 1999
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, Denis Leary, Ben Gazzara, Faye Dunaway
Directed by: John McTiernan
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
MPAA Rating: R (some sexuality, language)
Originally planned for an early-June release, this film was so much like April's Entrapment that it's quite possible executives at MGM pushed it off two months to avoid over-saturating the market. For avid filmgoers, however, it's impossible to shake the unwelcome feeling of déjà vu that permeates this romantic crime caper from beginning to end. The Thomas Crown Affair includes many of the same elements and suffers from many of the same problems as Entrapment, meaning overall it comes out unsatisfying.
Fortunately, Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo do a better job with the same roles than Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Brosnan is millionaire playboy Thomas Crown, a wealthy broker and impressionist aficionado who takes part in some high-class art theft on the side. After making off with a $100 million Monet in the opening scene, Crown is doggedly tracked by insurance investigator Catherine Banning (Rene Russo). Banning has nothing to go on but instincts, so she boldly tells Crown to his face that she believes he masterminded the robbery -- and ends up falling in love with him in the process. Crown, too, truly falls in love for the first time in his life, prompting some major changes in his style of living.
The two leads of Russo and Brosnan are better than Connery and Zeta-Jones because they're more balanced. Whereas in Entrapment, Connery had an overabundance of energy and Zeta-Jones barely had any, Russo and Brosnan complement each other somewhere in the middle of the scale. Unfortunately, Russo doesn't manage to do well on her own -- she's not sexy nor is she desirable, giving her character little depth. Brosnan, on the other hand, does just fine: he gets to play his keynote role of James Bond without actually playing him, a fine exit from the 007 franchise. (This is especially noteworthy considering the fact that later-this-year's The World is Not Enough may be Brosnan's last Bond film.)
The plot in Thomas Crown isn't that great, either, and hits the same potholes found in Entrapment. There are two great caper scenes -- the very first and the very last. The first of these -- masterfully drawn out and complemented with an upbeat piano piece written by composer Bill Conti -- sets a wonderful tone that director John McTiernan fails to follow through on. The last scene is a return to the same arena (the art museum) and ends the film on a high note. But everything in between lacks that charisma -- Brosnan and Russo awkwardly struggle through pages of romance in a rather unbelievable premise.
All in all it's the slow middle segment of Thomas Crown that weights the whole thing down. If McTiernan could have included more forward movement in his movie (and the fact that it's not there is a surprise, considering McTiernan directed two of the Die Hard films), then Thomas Crown would have been a great late-summer outing. Instead it's pretty unremarkable.
all contents © 1999 Craig Roush