THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 21, 1995 TAG: 9512210051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
ROMANCE AMONG THE rich can, even in the cynical 1990s, be thoroughly charming.
Take, for example, the unlikeliest hit of the new holiday crop, a remake of the 1954 Audrey Hepburn film ``Sabrina.'' The new film comes off better than anyone could have expected.
Make no mistake about it: Julia Ormond, the British lass who seems to get all the man-killer roles lately, is no Audrey Hepburn. But then, who could be?
Suffice it to say that Sydney Pollack (director of ``The Way We Were'') has a knack for romance and had the good sense not to change the original Cinderella premise. The result is an ingratiating bit of fluff in which the rich give parties, fly off to Paris and play mating games.
Sabrina Fairchild is the chauffeur's daughter on the Larabee family estate on Long Island. She spends much of her time literally up a tree, spying on the elaborate parties given next door. She imagines that she is in love with the younger Larabee son, David, the raucous, irresponsible playboy.
After Sabrina is shipped off to Paris and comes back a stunner, David is floored. He wants to marry her, but the family has other plans. They've already set up a financially advantageous marriage with the daughter of a business family.
Suspecting that Sabrina is only a fortune hunter, Linus, the older, responsible and uptight brother, first tries to buy her off and then tries to woo her.
It doesn't take a genius to guess that both brothers are going to fall for Sabrina.
The new cast is two-thirds as good as the one in the original Billy Wilder film, which got six Oscar nominations (including a best actress nomination for Hepburn). Harrison Ford is better than Humphrey Bogart was in the original, primarily because he is cast more believably. Bogart was much too old for the part.
Greg Kinnear, formerly of TV's ``Talk Soup,'' is a real surprise as the irresponsible David. (William Holden, in the original film, was much too old to suggest such boyish playfulness.) Kinnear has a mischievous bent that is just right for the part.
That leaves poor Ormond, who is asked yet again to be the woman all men covet (as she was in ``Legends of the Fall,'' and in ``First Knight'' earlier this year). She's done up in glasses and rags in the early scenes, but her Paris-inspired transformation still is not as startling as it should be. Hepburn could suggest both waif and girlish joy in a way that no man, millionaire or pauper, could possibly resist. Ormond lacks both qualities, but the movie itself is so beautifully wrapped that audiences won't really mind that the package inside isn't that nifty.
The supporting cast is interesting and often quite adept at stealing scenes. Lauren Holly (Jim Carrey's real life girlfriend, as well as his on-screen squeeze in ``Dumb and Dumber'') is the heiress engaged to David. Angie Dickinson and Richard Crenna are her stuffy parents. Fanny Ardant plays a mature French woman. John Wood is Sabrina's tweedy father. Dana Ivey steals every scene she has, and almost the movie, as Linus' starchy secretary.
``Sabrina'' is the perfect date movie this holiday season, especially if you've already seen ``The American President.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Sabrina''
Cast: Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond, Greg Kinnear, Nancy Marchand,
John Wood, Dana Ivey, Richard Crenna, Angie Dickinson, Lauren Holly
Director: Sydney Pollack
Screenplay: Barbara Benedek and David Rayfiel, based on the film
written by Billy Wilder, Samuel Taylor and Ernest Lehman, from the
play ``Sabrina Fair'' by Samuel Taylor
Music: John Williams
MPAA rating: PG (some mild language)
Mal's rating: Three stars
Locations: Chesapeake Square, Greenbrier in Chesapeake; Janaf,
Main Gate in Norfolk; Kempsriver, Lynnhaven, Pembroke, Surf-N-Sand
in Virginia Beach.
Photos
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
David (Greg Kinnear), above, woos Sabrina (Julia Ormond), the
chauffeur's daughter. But big brother Linus (Harrison Ford), below,
has the same idea.
by CNB