The Truth about Charlie

Expectations are automatically lowered for remakes of Hollywood classics - in this case, Stanley Donen's effervescent Hitchcock-homage Charade - but this is far worse than could have been imagined. From the insipid, spark-free pairing of Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton (not the obvious replacements for Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn) to the restless hand-held camerawork, this is a film with a fatal disregard for audience involvement. It's a real underachievement for Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme, who at least stays fairly close to the original's Paris-set story about the pursuit of a dead man's hidden fortune. However, all of the most suspenseful sequences have been stripped of intrigue or removed completely. Demme clearly isn't playing it safe, bringing in an international supporting cast and adding touches of surrealist humour, but there isn't a single scene or performance that doesn't feel awkward or misjudged.