Great Expectations

http://mrshowbiz.go.com/reviews/moviereviews/movies/GreatExpectations_1998.html

--Naomi Ryerson


Whereas Baz Luhrmann's updated Romeo & Juliet is a Cosmo Girl flick—
ripe, fidgety, and full of chewy innuendo—Alfonso Cuar=nAs version
of Great Expectations has been ripped right from the pages of Vogue
magazine: it's a frosty, over-dressed production that's just out of
reach. In Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare's framework was sloppily pumped
full of color and blood, while in Cuar=nAs film, Dickens' denseness
has been carefully starved down to its skeletal structure.

In Dickens' original tale of success, secrecy, and (Victorian) sex,
it was difficult to tell who expected what from whom. But from the
moment this film begins it's quite apparent that there's going to be
little in the way of surprise, satisfaction, or—for anyone who has
seen the trailer—suspense. Dickens' protagonist, Pip, has become
Finn (Jeremy Kissner/Ethan Hawke), an orphaned Florida lunkhead with
nothing to commend him except an ability to draw. Then the rich,
unhinged Ms. Dinsmoor (Anne Bancroft, looking like something out of
a John Waters version of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?) takes a
shine to him, luring him into her upper-class web of deception and
bitterness, using her gorgeous niece, Estella (the young Raquel
Beaudene and later Gwyneth Paltrow), as bait. Even as a child,
Estella is cold-hearted and aloof, but that doesn't stop the
repressed, adoring Finn from falling in love with her. The one-sided
relationship, which spans twenty years, leads to a number of
surprising career/romantic windfalls for the yearning Finn, whose
transformation from backwater nebbish to Uptown art star occupies
most of the film.

While the sets are great, and the wardrobe overwhelmingly impressive
(Paltrow's backless, spaghetti-strap, asymmetrical number deserves a
special Oscar), the film is so emotionally reserved that even the
undercurrents of blatant sexuality feel surprisingly unerotic.
Hawke's not fiery enough to carry the film; and it was a bad
decision to play Finn as a feeble extension of his status-seeking
Gattaca character rather than as a romantic version of Reality
Bites' enigmatic Troy. Paltrow is relegated to little more than
window dressing, which is disappointing. Her beauty is astounding,
and the camera gives her a radiant glow reminiscent of the young
Ingrid Bergman's luminescence. She's also a better actor than Hawke,
and she completely overpowers both him and the empty material. The
supporting cast, while impressive, is a mixed bag, too.

Hank Azaria (The Birdcage) is completely miscast as Estella's other
suitor, while Chris Cooper (Lone Star), as Finn's guardian, gives a
sympathetic, poignant performance. Bancroft's a hoot, but Robert De
Niro, as a menacing interloper, seems to have dropped in
unpleasantly from The Fan. David Lean, whose 1946 adaptation of
Great Expectations is considered the definitive film version (and
is a masterpiece in its own right), can rest easy in his grave.