Alfie: Critic Reviews

Law makes self-satisfaction beguiling, and in an odd way that's his, and the movie's, limitation.

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.

Though he's highly irresponsible, this Alfie is not quite a calculating heel, which makes the material go down easier while blunting the point.

His carefully tousled blond mop? His devilish blue eyes? His oily pickup lines and false promises coated in a cool British ahccent? Please.

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.

It's a steep task to consider Alfie anything other than a Vanity Fair pictorial.

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.

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.

Alfie is a bore.

Like its title character, the movie doesn't strive for depth. But it's stylish and, yes, also charming.

Alfie is embodied -- quite nicely -- by Jude Law, who is still a cad but more of a lad than Caine ever seemed.

Law's best scenes are when he doggedly tries to keep smiling as his lifestyle grows grim and depressing.

Not only delights and provokes, but twists and tweaks the plot with just the right amount of 21st Century flavor.

The movie feels creaky and anachronistic.

Forty years ago, Alfie was considered a delightful romp. But what was cool in the 1960s is crass now.

Alfie begins and ends by asking, 'What's it all about?' Unfortunately, it's a question the filmmakers never bother to answer.

With Alfie, it's all about displacement.

The original Alfie was as much overrated as the remake is underrated. Split the difference.

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

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.

The supporting cast of females (and Epps) is fun to watch, and the film boasts three original songs by Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart.

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.

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.