Sabrina

Many critiques on this site suppose that it is somehow superior to the original. I am not sure how this can hold up. While Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear are fine actors in their own right, comparing them to the coupling of Bogart and Holden is ridiculous. Just because a movie is OLD does not make it better, but if it is impeccably filmed and acted superbly, what is the point in redoing it to inferior standards? I suggest that the state of movie-making has in fact declined, as the art form has given way to popular sentiment, over-the-top portrayals of characters, and remakes which attempt to market themselves on previous successful attempts. To say that someone who repainted a Michaelangelo has made it somewhat made it better because painting has "evolved" is equally as stupid as saying any remake improves. And while Audrey Hepburn is not the world's finest actress, she has a unique cinematic quality which cannot be imitated or reproduced, much like her co-stars in this film. Please Hollywood, stop reproducing classics simply because there is a drought of originality and screenplays. Try rereleasing these classics so the public can see movies as they were meant to be viewed.

Passable but overlong remake of the classic Audrey Hepburn vehicle will play best for those not familiar with the original. The cast(Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond, Greg Kinnear) performs well and its production values are high but director Sydney Pollack's pacing tends to flag. By contrast, Billy Wilder's direction of the 1954 version is much tighter and quicker. Interestingly this "Sabrina" is 15 minutes longer than its predecessor but thanks to Pollack those extra 15 minutes feel like 30. Also, Barbara Benedek's and David Rayfiel's script lacks the wittiness that scenarists Billy Wilder, Samuel Taylor("Vertigo") and Ernest Lehman("The Prize," "North by Northwest") provided the first time around.

Bottom line: 6 out 10.

Although terribly predictable and a bit too long, this film is kind of sweet. Ford shines as in his typical role of comically aloof and Ormand plays her lead well. Good chemistry and cinematography.

Tempting though it may be to compare this film to the 1954 version, you will miss the point if you do. To understand the true magic of Sydney Pollack's masterpiece, read the Samuel A. Taylor play both films were based on. While I'm sure the play was a great evening out at the theater between martinis in the 1950s, it's somewhat incredible that two film versions so profoundly translated this lightweight romantic comedy, each in its own time.

In 1954, Billy Wilder used an incredible cast to entertain. No, Bogart should never have been cast. Cary Grant might have created the dynamic relationship with Audrey Hepburn we fortunately got to see later in Charade, but if Bogart had not been cast would the film hold its classic status? Hepburn transfixed an audience and brought to the world La Vie en Rose. William Holden is period eye candy, and the film will always be fun.

Forty years later, however, Pollack made an important film. Taylor's play is, after all, just a fairy tale, and this film fully realizes it. Ormond is enchanting. Kinnear ripens the always empty David. Fanny Ardant brings a french cinema quality to the film's Paris episodes. Marchand's "I didn't teach you this" culminates what may be one of the best written scenes in American film. You can watch this scene over and over and each time gain a better understanding of how great acting can define a relationship, this one between mother and son, for an audience.

But this film should have been called Linus. Harrison Ford's tour de force performance as the greater Larrabee fulfills Pollack's mission to tell a simple story of how a king is transformed by the love of a woman.

"It was a lie, then it was a dream."

Romantic is the word for this movie. The story, the settings, everything adds up to romantic. And it's clean - no gratuitous sex scenes or foul language! A rarity for a 90s movie. This movie has a timeless quality to it, and part of the reason is the (again) extremely romantic score! Many critics panned this version of "Sabrina", unfairly comparing it to the original Audrey Hepburn "Sabrina". Nobody could ever compare to Audrey Hepburn, but Julia Ormond is a fine Sabrina in her own right. She makes the transition from awkward teen to glamorous woman with subtlety and grace. Greg Kinnear shows a natural flair for acting in his first major movie role.