The Truth About Charlie (DVD)

...to a few unpleasant surprises. The apartment that she shares with her husband has been completely stripped, and there is no sign of any of her clothes or other possessions. Waiting in the apartment is a female police officer, who quickly escorts her to the police station to advise her that her husband has been found dead. A brief identification process formally confirms this to be the case, and Reggie suddenly finds herself homeless, single and very ...
...life.

Enlisting the aid of a young American man (Lewis) that she met whilst on holiday, she sets about trying to discover what happened to her husband. She secretly meets an employee of the American Embassy and is shocked to discover that her husband had been working covertly for the Americans. It transpires that he was part of a special mission involving a group of other individuals, during which a large amount of money was misappropriated. ... more

When she returns to Paris from a luxury Caribbean holiday, Regina Lambert comes home to a few unpleasant surprises. The apartment that she shares with her husband has been completely stripped, and there is no sign of any of her clothes or other possessions. Waiting in the apartment is a female police officer, who quickly escorts her to the police station to advise her that her husband has been found dead. A brief identification process formally confirms this to be the case, and Reggie suddenly finds herself homeless, single and very confused. Amongst the possessions found with her husband’s body are a number of different international passports containing her husband’s picture. It would seem that he was leading something of a secret life.

Enlisting the aid of a young American man (Lewis) that she met whilst on holiday, she sets about trying to discover what happened to her husband. She secretly meets an employee of the American Embassy and is shocked to discover that her husband had been working covertly for the Americans. It transpires that he was part of a special mission involving a group of other individuals, during which a large amount of money was misappropriated. Her husband was the last person to see the money, and she is warned that there are others who are likely to try and find her in order to get what they believe to be their share of the money. The contents of her husband’s case would appear to be the only clues as to where the money might be, but as events twist and turn, Reggie soon finds herself questioning the identity of everyone around her. Who can she trust and what is the secret behind her husband’s demise?

The Truth About Charlie is a remake of the 1963 classic thriller, “Charade”, which starred Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. I have to admit that I haven’t seen the original version of the film, so cannot really make any comparison between the two. That aside, I am reliably informed that the original version was much better, which doesn’t come as any surprise because you wouldn’t have try that hard to beat this bag of rubbish.

The Truth About Charlie is a strange concoction of different things. Sometimes, it feels quite fresh and quirky, but for most of the time it’s dreadfully, painfully dull. All the things that should lift it and breathe life into are either missing or completely wrong, and the whole spectacle quickly crashes and burns. Conceptually, both The Truth and Charade work on the same premise – they are both romantic thrillers. Sadly, The Truth is neither thrilling nor romantic and you do wonder why anyone would go to the time and effort to make it.

Romance is portrayed in many ways, but more often than not relies heavily on the chemistry between characters and/or actors. With the right people in the right place, you can just about make love blossom from nowhere, but there ain’t none of that going on here. For starters, the choice of actor for the two lead roles is completely uninspired. As Lewis, Mark Walhberg is pleasant enough, but he was never the greatest actor in the world, and this role exposes his inadequacies. He lacks any real presence or charisma and although he might look good in Calvin Klein underwear, he fails to inspire any interest in the story. His opposite number, Reggie (Thandie Newton) is even worse. Initially, she is irritating, but very soon she becomes excruciating and virtually unbearable to watch. So what happens when you pair up a helpless female with a gormless jock? The answer of course is not much, and watching the two of them trying to strike up a spark is like watching a caveman discover fire for the first time.

The Truth About Charlie may be a modern film, but its traditional plot is evident from start to finish. This is another one of those films that feels like a black and white film that has been made in colour. Characters who are clearly not what they claim to be stand out like a burglar in a striped sweater, and the twists are all so painfully obvious that the only surprise to be had is the time taken to get there. The trouble is that the whole thing feels so terribly convoluted. Reggie just happens to bump into Lewis at the airport in one of those, “Fancy meeting you here!” kind of torturous ways and things go downhill from there. Characters come and go and roles chop and change like the weather. One minute somebody appears to be a good guy and the next minute they turn into a bad guy, with little or no explanation. Even Reggie seems to get a little confused with the whole thing, and seems terribly upset about a death in one scene when it appeared to me that the victim was actually after her anyway!

Contrary to what you might be thinking, there were things about this film that I actually liked. The music is unusual and vibrant and at times it helps keeps things moving along. The locations are gorgeous – I’m quite sure that Paris was designed purely as a setting for films like this and it has never looked better. The director makes full use of the narrow, historic streets and the tone of the whole movie is completely Parisian. Some parts of the film were rather obscure – Charles Aznavour drops in for a few singing cameos, and there is a very odd scene on a dance floor where the cast switch partners at intervals. These moments betray a skill and flair for film that is sadly missing in most of the rest of the picture and I couldn’t help thinking that this could all have been a lot better. Of course, you can’t escape the fact that this is essentially another one of those modern-day remakes that not only fails to improve on the original, but actually does the whole thing a terrible disservice. Methinks that Mr Wahlberg should stick to action films and underwear adverts from now on.

Not recommended

Quick Facts

Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Written by: Peter Stone
Running Time: 104 minutes
UK certificate: 12A
Alerts: minor violent content
Notable appearances: Mark Wahlberg, Tim Robbins and Thandie Newton
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