It's a very enjoyable movie -- no work of art, but fun and stylish. Pierce Brosnan is just delightful as the super-wealthy, super-sexy bad boy Thomas Crown, exhibiting joie de vivre in the way that only very, very rich people can, by jetting off on a whim to the Caribbean, flying ultralight planes, and wrecking expensive catamarans just for the hell of it. He really makes the whole movie -- with someone less charismatic in the lead role, it would have been an eminently missable film (I saw one of those quote-whore reviewers said, "Russo and Brosnan steal the show!" Hello, they're THE STARS! By definition, they already HAVE the show, moron).
Too bad Bond... uh, Brosnan couldn't have been paired with an actress capable of actually expressing an emotion... or even seeming human. Rene Russo is the most synthetic-looking woman I've ever seen after Pamela Anderson Lee, and she sounds like an automaton. With her self-satisfied smirk, flawless make-up, and plasticine hair, she always looks like she's just about to walk onto a photo shoot -- so does Brosnan, but with him you see some warmth, vulnerability, humanity in his eyes and his smile -- Russo might as well be a blow-up doll for all the life she shows.
Besides Russo, other downsides include some hideous music in the background, some sort of Riverdance-y hand-clapping, tap-dancing crap, and the sight of Brosnan and Russo having sex on a marble staircase. I think I speak for everyone when I say: "OUCH!!"
Other than that, it's the perfect summertime escape movie with a dashing roguish hero, a clever heist, and a ... well, let's just forget there was a woman in this movie, okay?
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