The ‘Truth’ hurts

“The Truth About Charlie”

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Thandie Newton, Tim…

“The Truth About Charlie”

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Thandie Newton, Tim Robbins, Christine Boisson, Joong-Hoon Park, Lisa Gay Hamilton

Directed by Jonathan Demme

To paraphrase former senator Lloyd Bensten, I have seen “Charade” and you, “The Truth About Charlie,” are no “Charade.”

“The Truth About Charlie” is director Jonathan Demme’s haphazard remake of the 1963 film “Charade.” The original stars are Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. The remake stars are Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton. The original is a suspenseful, fun film that prominently features the acting talents of its stars and supporting actors. The remake is a stiff, forced homage to French New Wave films that prominently features a weak script that only emphasizes the film’s subpar acting.

This original-to-remake comparison could go on and on. But the two do share one thing: the plot at its most fundamental level. Reggie Lambert (Newton) is married to the mysterious Charles. He turns up dead, the money he stole from some dangerous people is missing, they think Reggie has it and the mysterious Joshua Peters (Wahlberg) shows up to “help” Reggie through this ordeal. Of course, nothing is as it seems.

It’s hard to decide which is worse, the complete destruction of “Charade” in the remake or Demme using the remake as the backdrop to get his French New Wave fix.

“Charade” had a thrilling story that provided a magnificent backdrop for the talents of Grant and Hepburn. This is lost in “Charlie” and on Wahlberg and Newton. Instead of getting Grant’s hilarious scene in which he takes a shower fully clothed and the simple romanticism of the lit-up boat ride he and Hepburn share, we get Wahlberg simply trying to accomplish the task of acting, which leads to the cringe-worthy “romantic” interplay he and Newton force onto the audience.

For as bad as this trampling all over “Charade” is, Demme’s insistence on forcing the French New Wave on the audience, as well as using the film as an outlet for a French New Wave exercise, might be worse. One of the principles of new wave filmmaking was to be low budget reactions to Hollywood filmmaking. It isn’t appropriate, then, to use that style in a big budget Hollywood remake. Even worse, this new wave technique is only used through half the film; the rest is straight filmmaking. There’s a time and a place to flex your knowledge of Truffaut and Godard, Mr. Demme, and this isn’t it, especially when you do it halfheartedly.

The list of reasons why “The Truth About Charlie” is abhorred is long. Something obviously went wrong here, when a film remaking the fun, thrilling “Charade” is neither fun nor thrilling, and it’s fair to say the problem came when the decision was made to remake “Charade” in the first place.

Here’s to waiting for the remake of “Breathless” starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Madonna.