Losing the plot

>> Despite a strong pedigree, Sleuth
is an uneven and theatrical remake

by MALCOLM FRASER

At first glance, Sleuth’s pedigree seems unassailable: starring Jude Law and Michael Caine, screenplay by Harold Pinter, directed by Kenneth Branagh. What could go wrong? With the possible exception of Pinter, though, every member of the all-star team has as many black marks as gold stars on their permanent records. Accordingly, Sleuth is a wildly uneven film, where powerful moments bump up against boring passages, leaps of logic and concepts that just don’t work.

Caine plays Andrew Wyke, a bestselling crime novelist who lives in an unusually stylish mansion in the English countryside. One night, he’s visited by Milo Tindle (Law), a brash young actor who we soon learn is in a relationship with Caine’s wife, and has come to convince him to give her a divorce. The plot then spins into wild contrivances, the twists of which shouldn’t be revealed, as they constitute most of the movie’s fun.

The film is based on Anthony Shaffer’s play, which was already adapted into a 1972 film in which a younger Caine played Milo opposite Laurence Olivier. And as we know, Law starred in the remake of the quintessential early Caine flick Alfie. Luckily, this self-reflexivity is made explicit only fleetingly, when Law whines to Caine “What’s it all about?” (the signature line from Alfie and title of Caine’s autobiography). Nonetheless, a feeling of highbrow back-slapping pervades the film, a pet project for Law, who also serves as producer.

There are simple reasons why theatrical adaptations often don’t make for good movies. It’s not just the over-reliance on dialogue, or the difficulty of sustaining interest in a two-person story for an hour and a half—though Branagh overcompensates for these with stylized production design, peculiar camera angles, and occasional, random use of hyperactive editing. It’s more that the kind of deliberate dialogue and broad performances that resonate on the stage can seem forced and awkward in a film setting.

That said, there’s no denying that Caine and Law are both powerful performers, and they each have their moments of brilliance in a plot full of unexpected turns. Ultimately, though, the best you can say about this is that an ambitious failure is more interesting than a successful mediocrity.

Sleuth opens this Friday, Oct. 26

>> Movie Listings