Scene Selection — Geoff Carter: ‘Charlie’ is no ‘Charade’

Friday, May 2, 2003 | 9:23 a.m.

Geoff Carter is a Seattle based free-lance film critic and entertainment writer. Reach him at carter@pre2k.com.

Jonathan Demme wants our forgiveness. From the opening words of his director's commentary track on the DVD of "The Truth About Charlie" (Universal, $26.98), he is playfully self-deprecating, introducing himself solely "on the tantalizing possibility that someone's hearing this." Aw, c'mere, ya big lug. As if we wouldn't hear you out ...

But hang on for a second: Demme did do something wrong. While "Charlie" isn't such a bad film in and of itself -- it allows Demme to pay homage to the great Francois Truffaut, makes the most of Tak Fujimoto's handheld camera work, and has a terrific soundtrack -- it commits the unpardonable sin of being a remake of Stanley Donen's underrated 1963 thriller, "Charade."

As such, our attention is drawn to the film's inadequacies -- and Demme unwittingly forces us to realize how lazy and cynical we've become in the past 40 years. Only in modern Hollywood can lines be drawn from Cary Grant to Mark Wahlberg, from a tightly plotted Hitchcockian script to a "journey of self-actualization," from Audrey Hepburn's pajama chic to Thandie Newton in panties. Demme might not be groveling loudly enough.

Donen's film didn't hope to explain the human condition. Cary Grant's gentleman rogue, Audrey Hepburn's scared but plucky widower, Walter Matthau's rumpled government agent and James Coburn's displaced cowboy were very much as they were presented; if they had unseen depths, that's how they remained. And yet, somehow, "Charade" feels more personable than "Charlie," which brings so much to the table that the legs can't support the weight.

Demme's homage to the French "New Wave" is so generalized and blunt that those who have never heard of "Jules et Jim" will get the point (the picture ends with a shot of Truffaut's grave, for heaven's sake). He makes a beautiful Parisian travelogue, invoking every icon from the Eiffel Tower to Charles Aznavour (whose appearance recalls another Demme picture, "Something Wild"), but the story founders in the wake of his enthusiasm.

And there's the matter of Mr. Wahlberg. Demme admits that he originally hoped to cast Will Smith in the lead role, and while he's no Cary Grant either, he would have supplied "Charlie" with badly needed charm and wit.

Wahlberg's dour intensity was perfectly suited to "Boogie Nights" and "Three Kings," but he seems too much like a bully here. And donning a beret -- a beret! On Mark Wahlberg! -- doesn't help.

Fortunately, Demme receives help from the universe -- or, to be specific, Universal. The DVD of "Charlie" features "Charade" as a bonus -- the entire film, cleaned and letterboxed. I have to admit that I'm a bit shocked at the studio's unprecedented generosity, but then again, it has never been so badly needed.

The American Movie Classics cable network, as part of a recent and ill-advised play for a younger audience, ran a commercial for "Charade" in which the announcer confuses Audrey Hepburn with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant with Hugh Grant. Anyone who really loves movies would never make such a mistake.

Jonathan Demme loves movies, and he should have known better than to play directly to that ignorant and ungrateful crowd.