Unnecessary remakes are hardly a new phenomenon in Hollywood, but 1999’s The Thomas Crown Affair is the near-perfect example of what happens when a talented cast and crew fire on all cylinders to deliver a movie that arguably doesn’t need to exist at all, but still manages to surpass its progenitor.
The 1968 version starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway was a solid caper that even won an Academy Award for Best Original song, but there’s a lot of people out there who would choose Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo’s smoldering double act any day of the week, and twice on a Sunday.
Efficiently and entertainingly directed by Predator and Die Hard‘s John McTiernan, The Thomas Crown Affair V2.0 finds Brosnan on charmingly debonair form, although he does go out of his way to deliberately shy away from invoking his turn as James Bond as much as possible, no easy feat when The Word is Not Enough released just three months later.
The actor’s bored billionaire amuses himself by heisting a Monet from a museum, but Russo’s investigator instantly suspects the wealthy rogue knows a lot more than he’s letting on. From there, a cat-and-mouse game defined by crackling chemistry ensues, with the sparks positively flying between the two leads.
A light, breezy, massively entertaining and undeniably old school film, The Thomas Crown Affair has been basking in the glory of a renewed appreciation on streaming, with FlixPatrol revealing the popular update has soared straight onto the iTunes most-watched list, and it’s a great way to spend a 113 minutes on a relaxing, lazy weekend.