I wanted to like this movie, I really, really did. I simply adore watching Harrison Ford, that blend of adult male with just a touch of the awkward teenager to him just melts my heart every time. And he has such potential as a romantic lead. After all, we ladies have voted him the sexiest man around for how many years?

But here, in Sabrina, he fell flat. The role had great potential, with Ford being cast as the icy, cold-hearted Linus Larabee who sees the heroine of this film as nothing more than someone to be bought and disposed of to close a business deal.

Hang it all, the film had wonderful potential in all of the cast and the only one that pulled it together was Greg Kinnear, as the charming cad of a brother, David Larabee. I'm getting ahead of myself here.

This Sabrina is the remake of the classic 1954 film with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. Tale of a chauffeur's daughter and the two wealthy brothers that she gets involved with, it's a classic Cinderella story, and the original while a bit dated, is a delight to watch.

This time through, Sabrina Fairchild (Julia Ormond) is the charmingly unsophisticated daughter of the family chauffuer who is in desperate puppy love for the younger son of the Larabees. David (Greg Kinnear) is charming and feckless, and doesn't even see Sabrina, being far more intent on the young ladies in his own circle. Elder brother Linus (Harrison Ford) is more machine than man, only interested in making money and running the family corporation.

Besides, Sabrina has an opportunity to better her own life, heading off to Paris to work in a fashion house as an assistant. It's an awkward time for her, as we see when she's struggling to fit in, but time and experience shape her into a polished young lady with a shorter haircut and elegant attire when she returns a couple of years later.

And despite her hopes, she has fallen in love with David all over again. He, in turn, is interested enough to be ready to throw over his engagement with Elizabeth Tyson, whose father is ready to make a merger with the Larabees if his daughter marries David. Linus, and his mother, Maude (Nancy Marchand) see disaster looming.

The solution is to get Sabrina and David apart, and it's Linus who takes on the task. All he has to do is turn her head, and get her to return to Paris and David safely married to Elizabeth. It's a tangled tale, and the chemistry between the three players in this triangle is somewhat convincing.

Brought up to date in the 90's, the theme of heroine-is-only-happy-if-she-marries and the underlying class struggle really doesn't survive in today's modern times. The Larrabees come across as a snobbish class of egotists, and Sabrina certainly has the wits to make it on her own without them. Which would have given this story a well-deserved turn on its collective head.

But unfortunately, we don't get that. Ford is just a touch too wooden and unconvincing as a hard-driven businessman who suddenly finds that he can't live without someone; Julia Ormond is winsome and sweet and demure; Nancy Marchand is a delight to watch, but it is Greg Kinnear as the scrapegrace younger brother with a talent for romance and no head for responsibility who steals the show. He's funny, charming, and the sort of man who would be great for a date, but you know he's always looking for greener pastures.

Finally, despite the direction by Sydney Pollack, and keeping nearly all of the scenes from the classic original, this film has some serious flaws. The story, for one. While the arranged marriage/business deal along with the class struggle of poor girl/rich boy worked well in the 1950's, it has an artificial feel to have it set in the 1990's. It simply lacks the vibrancy and charm of the original film, and while I can see how it can be a tempting project to upgrade, it simply doesn't work. The laughter is forced, and while Kinnear nearly saves it, there are still problems with it. Surely our Sabrina Fair in this version has enough brains to make her way without having to marry into money to survive?

The DVD version has subtitles in English, and alternate tracks in French. The only other additions are scene selection and the theatrical trailer. It would have been interesting if there had been interviews with the actors about how it felt to be remaking the classic Hepburn-Holden-Bogart version, but then, that's just me. It was nominated for four Oscars, and won none of them.

So, this one is good to watch if there's nothing else on, or if you're a die-hard Harrison Ford fan (it's actually better than Six Days, Seven Nights). Just remember, if you see your daughter watching it, tell her that she doesn't need to be a man's wife to succeed in life, no matter what romantic movies say.

Somewhat recommended for Greg Kinnear fans.



Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older