Review of Sleuth (2007) by Nathan S — 22 Sep 2008

The original Sleuth was a 1970's murder mystery adapted by Anthony Shaffer from his own highly successful stage play. Starring Laurence Olivier as a cuckolded husband and Michael Caine as the guy who's sleeping with Olivier's wife, it was a pulpy, melodramatic bit of plot twists and turns, certainly not a great movie but a fun one, especially for Caine's and Olivier's performances.

The new Sleuth puts Caine in the Olivier role, Jude Law in Caine's old role, and Harold Pinter on rewrite duties. And boy, does he rewrite it. If I were trying to make an enjoyable, pulpy bit of melodrama and twisted plotting, Harold Pinter would probably be the last living person I'd call to write the screenplay.

Maybe Branagh hired him on a dare. In any case, this movie pretty much drains anything resembling fun out of the plot and instead gives us a somewhat arid bit of psychosexual shenanigans and directorial pomposity.

The direction, set design and colour schemes make me think Kenneth Branagh was under the mistaken impression that the original play was by Samuel Beckett or, perhaps, Harold Pinter. The whole not very entertaining mess plays out like an episode of Murder, She Wrote directed by Peter Brook.