Alfie 2004

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: What the new Alfie turns out be all about is Jude Law, perfectly cast in the role played by Caine. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Alfie is such smooth, crisp entertainment, you barely even notice it has nothing new to say. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Alfie the remake, despite fine work by the cast (yes, there are people in the movie other than Law, but not so's you'd notice), doesn't really work -- it ultimately has nothing to say, and no reason to exist. Read more

Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune: Not only delights and provokes, but twists and tweaks the plot with just the right amount of 21st Century flavor. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The new script raises the emotional stakes of the old scenes it retains, cuts plot elements that can't be updated and creates new story lines that are just as effective as those it replaces. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: This is an ugly, blue-tinged movie that telegraphs every plot turn. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Terrific performance by Law. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Did we really need an Alfie remake? Probably not. Will you enjoy this Alfie remake? Probably so. Read more

AV Club: Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: With Alfie, it's all about displacement. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: It's a steep task to consider Alfie anything other than a Vanity Fair pictorial. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: The story floats along in a philosophical swamp of empowerment mythology, theraspeak and materialism-as-personality that's as contemporary as Oprah's self-esteem empire. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Alfie is a bore. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Alfie is embodied -- quite nicely -- by Jude Law, who is still a cad but more of a lad than Caine ever seemed. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Law makes self-satisfaction beguiling, and in an odd way that's his, and the movie's, limitation. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Like its title character, the movie doesn't strive for depth. But it's stylish and, yes, also charming. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Pretty good as pretty good goes, with Jude Law turning in an efficiently chipper, if palpably less dark, performance than the one that earned Michael Caine his first Oscar nomination and came to define his career. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Early on, this urbane update tells us what we've learned in the intervening decades -- women are from Venus, Alfies are from Mars -- then proceeds to restate that view of the solar system ad nauseum. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Alfie is a star in search of a vehicle. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: The major difference between the two movies is that Caine's Alfie represented a threatened breed of opportunistic man, while Law's comes off as a typical commitment-challenged bachelor. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: The original Alfie was as much overrated as the remake is underrated. Split the difference. Read more

Megan Lehmann, New York Post: Law tries hard to make his Alfie likable, but he's working against the orchestrations of the narrative and merely comes off as feeble, a one-dimensional Eurotrash jerk with outmoded ideas about women and troubles that don't amount to a hill of beans. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Unlike the 1966 British film about a carefree womanizer on which it is based, the new Alfie doesn't chase social significance, it just wants us to have a good time. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: The supporting cast of females (and Epps) is fun to watch, and the film boasts three original songs by Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The question of 'Why?' (more than 'What's it all about?) still lingers where this remake is concerned. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Law's best scenes are when he doggedly tries to keep smiling as his lifestyle grows grim and depressing. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The movie invites us to revel in Alfie's stylishness, and then slaps us on the wrist for reveling in it a little too much. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Forty years ago, Alfie was considered a delightful romp. But what was cool in the 1960s is crass now. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: It leaves Jude Law hanging out to dry. He looks like the young Michael Caine, he talks straight to the camera like the young Michael Caine, but this time our hunk has got zilch to say. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Back in the mid-1960s, Alfie Elkins was one of the reasons a women's liberation movement was necessary. Today, he's just another bad date with a surplus of personal grooming products. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Though he's highly irresponsible, this Alfie is not quite a calculating heel, which makes the material go down easier while blunting the point. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: A breezy, sexy romp with a conscience that reflects in obvious but interesting ways on societal changes over the intervening 38 years. Read more

Jessica Winter, Village Voice: Charles Shyer (who processed the Parent Trap and Father of the Bride updates) plays coy with most matters sexual-an odd and puritanical approach to a character who molds his entire existence around the procurement and enjoyment of sex. Read more

Sean Daly, Washington Post: His carefully tousled blond mop? His devilish blue eyes? His oily pickup lines and false promises coated in a cool British ahccent? Please. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: He seems to be one part Alfie from the 1960s and the other part, well, multiplex star drone. There's nothing authentic about this London lad. Read more