FILM REVIEW; A Romeo Plays a Romeo. Hmm.
Janet Maslin www.nytimes.com janet-maslin
Shipboard lovers' story updated, with airplane. Wet firecracker of a remake.
/vi-assets/static-assets/favicon-d2483f10ef688e6f89e23806b9700298.ico
Warren Beatty isn't quite Cary Grant in "Love Affair," though he plays the same ladies' man Grant made so fabulously debonair in Leo McCarey's 1957 "An Affair to Remember." (Charles Boyer also played this role, in 1939.) Surprisingly, he isn't quite Warren Beatty either.

Never has Mr. Beatty seemed less foxy or confident than he does playing out this star-crossed romance opposite his real-life spouse, Annette Bening, who has the once glamorous Deborah Kerr role (played earlier by Irene Dunne). A rule of thumb for male stars looking to set off flirtatious sparks: not with your wife, you don't. Not on screen.

Mr. Beatty and Ms. Bening generated plenty of electricity in "Bugsy," but that film took a much less labored approach toward love. This time there's not much else to talk about. And Mr. Beatty and Robert Towne have come up with a remarkably tongue-tied script. That's amazing, since the earlier screenplays are loaded with arch rejoinders, and all anyone had to do was use them. "An Affair to Remember" was celebrated in "Sleepless in Seattle" for its weepy finale, but it's most fondly remembered for state-of-the-art sophisticated banter.

In a role that brings Mr. Beatty to the brink of self-parody, he plays Mike Gambril, a one-time sports star with "a reputation for playing the field." "Love Affair" even trots out familiar paparazzi shots of Mr. Beatty with various girlfriends (their images have been doctored) on television shows like "Hard Copy," just to show he's a famous Romeo. Certainly his well-documented attractiveness should have eliminated any need for the ridiculously coy cinematography that overprotects him here. Both stars are filmed in such a rosy, gauzy glow that a star actually seems to gleam off Mr. Beatty's teeth in one scene. Both look better in the few scenes shot outdoors, in natural light.

Conrad L. Hall, the usually first-rate cinematographer, is among several behind-the-scenes talents whose presence here ought to attest to Mr. Beatty's skill at producing. He has rounded up the composer Ennio Morricone, the costume designer Milena Canonero and the production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti (who won an Oscar for "The Last Emperor"), but none of them rise to this occasion. "Love Affair" sounds schmaltzy and looks contrived, with uneasy direction by Glenn Gordon Caron that raises further questions about who, if anyone, was minding the store.

Then there's the love affair itself. Not for Mike and Terry McKay (Ms. Bening) the sleek, black-tie shipboard romance seen in 1957; these two meet more awkwardly on an airplane, which crash-lands in the South Pacific, forcing them onto a comical-looking Russian cruise ship. Fans of this story know that the ship makes a stop so the leading man can visit a wonderful, elderly relative who knows all about love. This time, she's played by Katharine Hepburn, who does not go gently into sweet little old lady roles.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.