An Affair to Remember.

Review #1394: An Affair to Remember.

Cast: 
Cary Grant (Nicolò Ferrante), Deborah Kerr (Terry McKay), Richard Denning (Kenneth Bradley), Neva Patterson (Lois Clark), Cathleen Nesbitt (Grandmother Janou), Robert Q. Lewis (Himself), Charles Watts (Ned Hathaway), and Fortunio Bonanova (Courbet) Directed by Leo McCarey (#085 - Duck Soup and #1350 - Love Affair)

Review: 
Do you ever feel like you're watching the same film twice? Honestly, the only things that really need a remake are films that were clunkers the first time around, not movies that were good enough once already. But hey, maybe one really did want to see another version of a love affair with the same director and nearly the same script 18 years later. At least this time around I knew what to expect when it came to the climatic point of the film, since not only had I seen the original only two months ago but it happened to be prominently referenced in another overrated tearjerker that I saw years ago in Sleepless in Seattle (1993). Of course this particular film happens to be longer at 115 minutes, with the second easiest difference being that it has a steeper fall in its second half than its predecessor after it leaves the boat. This is a film that has the luster of starpower to try and hide its mediocrity that makes it quite a frustrating film to sit through, because one knows that it is going to be completely fine and nothing else, complete with CinemaScope to hit that final shiny mark to play for its audience (this of course is not meant to be a iconoclastic jab at films of that era). Grant and McCarey had done two previous films with each other, while Kerr and Grant were in their second of three collaborations with each other. As was the case with numerous McCarey films, improvisation was something to be encouraged when on camera, with some improvised lines finding their way into the film. The movie does seem to flow better when it focuses on just these two together, with a slow-but-fruitful chemistry that makes a majority of the film fairly palpable. One always has a fine time with Cary Grant when it comes to seeing him on screen, seeing how he never really seems to age too particularly as a leading man in terms of charm that is hard to resist to smile with. Kerr, a versatile actress if there ever was one (having been nominated six times for an Academy Award) catches up with Grant fairly well in elegance despite having to deal with silly stuff such as having to sing with a kid's choir or the end scene. Denning and Patterson, constricted in roles that firmly neutral in romantic chemistry that seem more fitting somewhere else, prove okay. Nesbitt provides a quietly sweet presence for the moments that bridge an interesting first half before it gets sluggish. Maybe one has more patience for its contrived turning point, where a lover suddenly hit by a car decides to not tell the other about their condition until that big scene at the end where Grant puts two-and-two together (any longer and he would've needed a picture book) that leads to an intended tearjerker scene that just makes me roll my eyes. There is passion present here, but there must've been a better way to do all of this (let's go full absurd and just have the lead go into a coma or fall into a manhole with alligator captors while we're at it) than the same thing again. I can't get mad at it being average for doing things again with a capable duo to back up material just like before, so I suppose that the nicest thing I can say is that this is a film comprised of fair and clunky attitudes about romance that will prove adequate for those who want an average crowd-pleaser for their time.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.