Save your money for something good and enjoyable

People are voting emotionally.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This review CONTAINS SPOILERS, but to be fair it's pretty much impossible to spoil the experience of watching this turkey beyond what the movie itself achieves. To illustrate how bad this movie is I'd like to call your attention to one small scene. The film begins with a classic intricate heist of priceless art from a high-security museum. That plan is quickly revealed to be an elaborate cover for the real theft of one painting by uber-cool billionaire Thomas Crown, played by the steely-eyed wooden-expressioned Pierce Brosnan. The actual theft is facilitated by Crown's placing his briefcase to prevent an absurdly hefty security gate from fully closing on the room housing the painting. The briefcase is later shown to contain a highly engineered titanium structure built to sustain many tons of pressure. Keep that fact in mind.The female lead, Catherine Banning played by Rene Russo, quickly identifies Crown as the thief based on nothing in particular. Feminine intuition, perhaps? Anyway, she sets about trying to extract a confession from Crown by means of irresistible hotness which I'm sorry to say she's a bit too old and inept to carry off. The rest of the movie is basically a series of dream dates for Banning along the lines of Pretty Woman interspersed with scenes of her annoying the police and interfering with their investigation. The police official, Detective Mike McCann played by Dennis Leary, who for no apparent reason kowtows to the civilian Banning, is the most likable and believable major character in the film. Having seen Leary's real-life temperament, I found his portrayal of nice guy Detective McCann to be an impressive piece of acting.Now about that briefcase. If you watch the scene where Crown places it to block the security gate, you'll see that his hands are bare. Given the obvious design of the case as a tool for burglary, even the most plodding dullard of a police detective would have simply taken fingerprints from the case and thus been 95% of the way toward nabbing Crown. That step was never taken. Instead the police humor Banning and provide occasional relationship counseling as she parades herself in and out of a series of ridiculously opulent and/or see- through garments while enjoying her dates with, or agonizing over, Crown. Everything in the movie, IMHO, is just as poorly thought out and ineptly executed as the briefcase debacle. That holds true right down to the music and the disruptingly obvious product placement shot for a can of Pepsi One. The real crimes against art in this movie are the ones committed by the director, writers, actors, composer and musicians, and the real theft is of any time you might spend watching this travesty.

A Puff Piece from Inconsistent Director John McTiernan. it's Unexplainable how He can make Excellent Films like Die Hard (1988) and Predator (1987) and then deliver such Shallow, Uninteresting, and Safe Stuff like this bit of Eye Candy, so Sweet and safe.It's a Remake and does Nothing to Enhance the Original. In Fact, that's what this Bland, but Beautifully Shot Film does best, Nothing. The Movie is a Throwback to more Innocent Times when it wasn't Cringe-Worthy for Super-Rich People to flaunt Their Insensitivity and "World as a Game" Philosophy and Behavior in the Faces of the regular Folks who buy Tickets and Popcorn, for Escapism. It Literally has No Qualms to say, "Don't you wish you could be so obnoxious?". In the turn of the New Millennium, this is Just Antiquated hubris from the Billionaires. It's Not Fun, Not Funny, Not anything but Embarrassing. Pierce Bronson's and Rene Russo's Sophisticated Cool watching what might be a "Renoir" go up in Flames with a Shrug says It all. Speaking of Russo, where did She get that "Fingers on a Blackboard" Laugh? Dennis Leary is the Best thing in this thing, besides the Slick look, but His usual Acerbic Personality is mostly Wasted.

After a difficult experience with the 13th Warrior, director John McTiernan returns to his best form with this simple yet brilliantly entertaining romantically themed caper movie, that relies on the excellent interplay between the two main leads; some clever but simple dramatic set-pieces; clever dialogue; great chemistry between the actors, and stylishly photographed locations. This movie shows that the director can deliver a great film without resorting to action sequences or blowing things up!This film is a clever and contemporary remake of the 1968 Norman Jewison directed, Steve McQueen starrer, and brings the themes very effectively up to date for a modern audience. Brosnan is perfect in the role, and shows that he can play a charismatic leading man that is different from James Bond, but no less interesting or entertaining. Due to circumstances early on in the film, he is pursued by insurance investigator Catherine Banning, also an outstanding performance by the charismatic Rene Russo, who flaunts her sexuality as a weapon to distract Brosnan's Crown character with a view to getting him arrested. However, this quickly develops into an very evenly balanced cat and mouse game between the characters, as each tries to outwit the other, yet at the same time they are becoming romantically more and more involved, which does leads to a major confrontation about three quarters of the way into the movie. This then allows a very clever climax to play out. There are two enjoyably entertaining supporting roles. Dennis Leary and Frankie Faison are two down to earth and streetwise local detectives who work alongside Banning, and as the film goes on Leary's character, who starts off as a bit stereotypical, evolves cleverly into something more sophisticated, and ends up representing the most grown up and adult perspective on the chain of events that make up the film's plot.McTiernan's directing is clever, whether it's the opening and closing set pieces, dialogue scenes or a refreshing and stylish (but not gratuitous) take on sex scenes he melds this film together with real style, bearing in mind that this his first attempt at this genre, and shows his versatility as a director given the right material. Technical credits are all very good, but particular mention has to go to Tom Priestley's photography, which is stylish and with camera- work that has a very retro feel to it (steadicam and hand held cameras is almost entirely avoided in the film); John Wright's slick editing and Bill Conti's atmospheric score. In short a great movie that clearly shows that director McTiernan can handle non-action films with great aplomb given the right script.

I've been watching this movie off and on for years. It was on DISH today. It is a masterpiece. For any of you that have had a dysfunctional passionate relationship it's a must see. It'll stir up your emotions from that old dead relationship like a witch's brew. :-) There's a rumor that there might be a sequel. I hope that it has the original stars (from the 1999 version) and not a remake. Writing a successful sequel where the loving relationship still exists would take Monet. Dunaway as the shrink and Leary as the cop; excellent. The music, cast, filmography, and direction were all nice. I love every movie that McTiernan has directed. Russo, stunning, absolutely stunning.