The Thomas Crown Affair (R, 1999)

In this remake, self-made tycoon/amateur thief Tomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan) steals a Monet masterpiece from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, just for the thrill of it all. The cops hit a dead end, so they call in investigator Catherine Banning (Rene Russo). Banning eventually hones in on Crown and wriggles into his upper-crust world. But Banning finds herself falling for the dashing billionaire – the man she's supposed to be trying to put behind bars.

This is the movie equivalent of a beach book, a glossy story about beautiful, wealthy, people that not only doesn't require much thinking but actually repels it. Think too much and you'll miss the slight but real pleasures of this remake of the 1968 version starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway.

Dunaway appears briefly in this remake as Crown's therapist, to let us know that all of this is just acting out due to his fear of, guess what, intimacy. That is just one example of the movie's biggest failure -- more clever than smart, it tells us instead of showing us such major points as the main characters' fear of trusting someone else and the fact that they find each other uniquely not boring. But we are willing to let movies like this one carry us along in exchange for some steamy moments, some crafty twists, and some beautiful scenery -- Brosnan and Russo included.

Studio: MGM/UA
Director: John McTiernan
Cast: Denis Leary, Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo
Genre: Thriller
Run time: 113 minutes
Theatrical release: August 6, 1999
DVD release: January 4, 2000
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: some sexuality and language