The Truth About Harry
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To simulate the experience of watching this movie, have someone hold your computer screen and gently but constantly jiggle it while you read for ninety minutes. Jonathan Demme apparently couldn't afford a Steadicam®, so the entire movie is shot with a hand-held camera. The result isn't the stomach-churning monkey-cam of Blair Witch Project, but sensitive viewers may experience fatigue, headaches, or nausea. If that isn't a selling point, what is?
The truth is, this movie doesn't suck. However, it doesn't glow as a shining star in the cinema firmament, as a remake of a Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn thriller should. If Demme wasn't going to make a movie as good as Charade, why make it? (Are there no original scripts in Hollywood of quality?) The comparisons are inevitable, and Grant and Hepburn are considered paragons of screen chemistry. Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton try hard, but they don't have the magic. And neither does this film. A well-made thriller should have a convoluted but compelling plot. Increasing chemistry between the leads that parallels the escalating tension of the story. Unexpected twists. Startling revelations. Then a satisfying resolution, with the promise of a romantic future. The plot here is full of twists and turns, and what enjoyment is to be gleaned comes from trying to predict the secrets and surprises. As a thriller it holds up adequately, as a romance not quite as well. Some of the characters are interesting and the actors handle their roles competently. Unfortunately, the cinematography's edgy roughness is muddled by a permeating uncertainty. So The Truth About Harry is interesting, but not truly gripping.
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Eight-Facet Info Rating, rated on a scale of 0 (None) to 4 (Lots!)): |