Overrated

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

If you haven't seen the 1954 movie, this is a remake of, here's the basic story: There are two brothers in the wealthy Larrabee family, one of whom is a playboy and the other of whom is a workaholic businessman. The chauffeur's daughter, Sabrina, goes to Paris to learn a trade and comes back looking much more elegant. The playboy is engaged to a woman from a wealthy family, which is supposed to strengthen the success of a business merger. When Sabrina comes back from Paris, the playboy sets his desire on her, and so the businessman brother intervenes so the merger will not be ruined. Eventually the businessman's heart softens and he stops being selfishly manipulative, and his own change causes the playboy to rise to the occasion and make things right. It's all done with great flair and humor.Harrison Ford is spectacular and comes across as a paradox of gruffness and sensitivity, still maintaining his sex-appeal. Ford plays a seemingly callous businessman who as the story develops, grows more and more endearing. Together with Julia Ormond who plays her role elegantly and sweetly, they bring an element of classic romance to this beautifully directed modern-day fairytale. The chemistry between Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond is fantastic, you can feel it coming through the screen. This was actually an excellent adaption of Sabrina. This adaption did not in anyway attempt to replace the "original" movie but presented the material from a fresh and new vantage of the story. These qualities are sadly very rare in today's films! Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Light though overlong romantic comedy-remake (of the 1954 classic movie) with nice actors , luxurious scenarios and decent direction . The known story of Sabrina (this role is a good vehicle for Julia Ormond) , the chauffeur's daughter , who falls in love for a millionaire (Greg Kinnear in his film debut) , the handsome younger brother in the wealthy mansion where her daddy works . But then , his older brother (Harrison Ford a solid acting by this veteran actor) and their mother (Nancy Marchand) are opposed to this relation. As the older sibling attempts to woo her away for for strictly business issues . Enjoyable romantic tale of a well-known story based on Samuel Taylor play titled ¨Sabrina Fair¨; it is packed with comedy , romance , agreeable situations and overall , emotion . Including some scenes from Paris which are particularly lovely and fun . Interesting and amusing screenplay based on the script written long time ago by Billy Wilder , Ernest Lehman and Samuel Taylor , being rightly adapted with surehand writing by David Rayfield and Barbara Benedek . Main cast is frankly excellent , though Julia Ormond as gorgeous young who has a longlife crush on Greg Kinnear -as a womanizer billionaire- are far from Audrey Hepburn and William Holden respectively . This fine cast works , giving acceptable interpretations , though inferior to original and classic picture (1954) by Billy Wilder and starred by Humphrey Bogart , Audrey Hepburn, , John Williams , Martha Hyer , Francis X Bushman . Support cast is pretty well , and plenty of familiar faces such as John Wood , Richard Crenna , Dana Ivey , Paul Giamatti , Lauren Holly , Fanny Ardant , Patrick Bruel , Elizabeth Franz , John Wood as the old chauffeur of the household where Sabrina falls in love , among others . Colorful as well as glamorous cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno , Federico Fellini,'s regular cameraman . Marvelous and sensitive musical score by the great comp0ser John Williams , Spielberg's usual. This motion picture reboot -acceptable if overlong for a romantic yarn- was professionaly directed by Sidney Pollack , but without originality . Polack (dead at 72) was a classic writer and filmmaker who wrote and directed several successes such as ¨Jeremiah Johnson¨ , ¨Three days of the Condor¨ , ¨Out of Africa¨, ¨The Keep¨, The interpreter¨ , ¨Tootsie¨ , ¨The Firm¨ and many others .

Released in 1995, "Sabrina" stars Julia Ormond as an 'ugly duckling' daughter of a chauffeur for a rich Long Island family. After blossoming in Paris for two years, she returns wherein the handsome playboy of the family finally takes notice (Greg Kinnear), but so does the all-business-minded son (Harrison Ford), which creates havoc. Nancy Marchand, John Wood, Richard Crenna, Angie Dickinson and Lauren Holly have support roles.The first 50-55 minutes are compelling and amusing drama, but when the story takes a surprising turn in the second act it bogs down with slow-moving and uninteresting romancing. Despite this, there's certainly enough good to glean here to make it worthwhile. Romance-lovers will obviously find more to cherish.The film runs 127 minutes and was shot at Salutation House, West Island, Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, and Manhattan, as well as Martha's Vineyard.GRADE: C+ (5.5/10)

I couldn't even watch to the end and had to stop in the middle - which I usually never do for a movie or a book. Everything seemed dull.Julia Ormond: is sad and ugly, even when she is supposedly that new fashionable woman back from Paris. She doesn't have the playfulness and liveliness or even half of the class and sense of style and fashion of the original (and she is supposed to have worked at Vogue). Her evening dress at the Larabee's party? blah... Her haircut makes her look too mature and in her late 30's (The girl playing E. Tyson was much more attractive and young) and I wasn't impressed with her character transformation. The way that transformation occurs isn't even that detailed or deep, as the assistant photographer. In the original, it is not deep or detailed either, but at least it is done in a fun, lighthearted way at the cooking school.the dialogs:they were painful, dull and the self-awareness with which the lines were delivered made my skin crawl. The scene where Sabrina talks about her feelings to a hidden Linus before going to Paris was delivered with lackluster and a sadness that were painful to watch. I felt ashamed for Ormond. I missed the way Audrey Hepburn inhales with delight the deadly fumes of the cars, or even the simple goodbye letter she writes to her father.I felt sad for Harrison Ford, because I usually like him very much and think he was not exactly miscast, but lost with all these sad characters to deal with in the first place.I didn't feel any chemistry with the characters. That young man in Paris who falls in love with Sabrina doesn't even make sense. Why fall for such a clumsy ugly girl who can't say a word straight? What is their link, except for their jobs? What do they share in common? What is to be seen in her that makes her endearing? - In the old times, they knew how to suggest an atmosphere and a character in one shot. Today, we over explain. An example. In the old version, when we are first introduced to the Larabees, we see a painting of the family on the wall, then the family pausing for professional photographers. We know right there the pride, the arrogance of a rich family, the annoyed expression of Bogart, the delighted smile of his brother, the haughtiness of the mother etc.In the new version, we have a painfully long explanation of who is who, showing every character in turn. Another example? The ending, where Linus gets on the boat, asks for his hat to be arranged and sticks his umbrella on someone's coat belt, and we are meant to understand that he is at least on the same page as Sabrina. We don't need the again painful explanatory dialog of 10 minutes between the two leads.I could go on and on, scene by scene, from the chauffeur, to that round window showing the Eiffel tower and the french cook, to the beautiful ball dress Audrey is wearing and the witty short dialogs, the old version was a winner. The new version lacks subtlety and charm.