Movie Review- SLEUTH

HEADLINE: ** Cold Theatricality **
TITLE: SLEUTH
Quality: * * Acceptability: -2
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: VV
Sex: SS
Nudity: None

RATING: R
RELEASE: October 12, 2007
TIME: 86 minutes
STARRING: Michael Caine and Jude Law
DIRECTOR: Kenneth Branagh
PRODUCERS: Jude Law, Simon Halfon, Tom Sternberg, Marion Pilowsky, Kenneth Branagh, and Simon Moseley
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: None
WRITER: Harold Pinter
BASED ON THE PLAY BY: Anthony Shaffer
DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures Classics

CONTENT: (H, HoHo, LLL, VV, SS, A, MM) Sarcastic, modernistic, somewhat sadistic (in an emotional way) humanist worldview with strong homosexual references; 39 obscenities (including many "f" words), seven strong profanities, and five light profanities; brief strong violence such as falling, threats of violence and shootings; frank talk about adultery and strong homosexual references in the third act; no nudity; alcohol use; no smoking; and, lying, deceit, insults, and playing sadistic mind games.

GENRE: Mystery Thriller
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults

Please address your comments to:

Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcia Bloom
Co-Presidents
Sony Pictures Classics
(Sony Pictures Entertainment)
550 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10022
Phone: (212) 833-8833
Fax: (212) 833-8844
Web Page: www.sonyclassics.com
Email: Sony_Classics@spe.sony.com

SUMMARY: In SLEUTH, an updated remake of a talky mystery play filmed before in 1972, a best-selling mystery novelist and his wife's young lover play an unnerving series of dangerous games to get the upper hand. This modernistic remake increases the cold, unappealing nature of the original script and contains strong foul language and a new, distasteful homosexual subplot.

IN BRIEF:

SLEUTH is an updated remake of a mystery play filmed before in 1972. Michael Caine plays Andrew Wycke, a best-selling mystery novelist living in an ultra-modern country estate in England. Andrew invites his wife Marguerite's lover, a struggling young actor named Milo (played by Jude Law), into his house to make a proposal. Andrew suggests that Milo will never be able to afford Marguerite's extravagant tastes. He proposes that Milo steal some expensive jewelry hidden in his safe, so that Milo can sell the jewelry and Andrew can collect the insurance. This scheme turns out to be an elaborate sadistic game, which leads to more games and twists.

There has always been a mechanical theatricality to this script, but the movie enhances this quality. One way it does this is by setting the three acts in a metallic-looking interior design containing ultra-modern furniture and devices. Consequently, the characters seem even more cold and unappealing than they were in the original. Worse, the filmmakers add strong foul language and a distasteful homosexual subplot. Thus, the remake is rated R, while the original movie, where Michael Caine played Milo, was rated only PG.