Alfie (2004)

This remake of Michael Caine's 1996 Alfie (which I haven't seen) is a movie that is not bad, but it's not good either. And it sucks cause I've been waiting for it for a while, specially after reading all those comments about Jude Law's performance. Yes, he's very good here, but the story is missing something.

To me, the movie had the same feeling as Hugh Grant's About a Boy. The guy's a womanizer, and realizes that he's got nothing, that he's alone. The problem with Alfie is that he doesn't have a kid to care for, someone to make him change it all, instead, here he realizes this all by himself, and there's no change, just inconclusion.

[SPOILER]
I think the movie would've been much better if Alfie would've gone back to Sienna Miller's Nikki. She was going to be perfect for him. She was going to change. I believed that in her. But he decided not to give her another chance, and instead he went to the arms of Susan Sarandon's Liz, a female version of Alfie but much older and wiser.

She lives like Alfie, going away when things get too close, but she decided to keep it that way. So of course, her arms didn't catch him, instead, he got an excuse that wasn't the real one, "he's younger than you" she said, but that's not the real excuse, "he's just another one" would've been much better. Because that's what it was. The age wasn't a problem for her, she was with a much older guy before. But was just like Alfie, and so when things got closer, she changed him.
[/SPOILER]

So the movie was disappointing for me. I expected a heartwarming story about a loner changing through the power of love (like some of my faves Garden State, About a Boy, Notting Hill) and ended up with an empty story and no satisfying ending.

*****************************************************
Alfie Rethought: I really love Alfie. It took me some time to savour it but I no longer think it's not satisfying. The ending is perfect, because he should've gone back to Nikki, but he didn't and now he's lost his chance. It's perfect because there are many people like him in the real world, and they never change, always pulling away when things get close, and it's sad. Alfie captures that perfectly, and for him to have a happy ending all of a sudden would've been wrong.
And I failed to mentioned the soundtrack before. Headlined by Old Habits Die Hard. All the songs from Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart with a few tracks featuring the excellent vocals of Joss Stone. A great soundtrack to own.