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Sleuth

Michael Caine remaking Michael Caine

By MARK BAZER | October 17, 2007

2.5 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Sleuth.

Is there a more amusing pop-culture trend than Michael Caine acting in remakes of his old movies? The 1972 Sleuth was nominated for four Oscars, including one for Caine. This new one, updated for a high-tech, sarcastic age by director Kenneth Branagh and screenwriter Harold Pinter, is an all-around witty, mischievous bit of filmmaking — for an hour or so. Caine, in the role previously played by Laurence Olivier, is Andrew Wyke, a successful mystery novelist; Jude Law, in the role previously played by Caine, is Milo Tindle, a struggling actor sleeping with Wyke’s estranged wife. Tindle visits Wyke at his estate to ask him, politely, to grant his wife a divorce, but it’s clear from the outset that the novelist is intent on bringing his fiction to life. What ensues is a series of a sadistic “games” and verbal sparrings between the two, kept fresh for as long as a glimmer of enjoyment and mutual respect shines through. Think Carlton Fisk and Thurman Munson.

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