(Dir. Billy Wilder 1954)
NR, I would give it PG or PG-13 TOPS. This is a good family movie. Note that there is a suicide attempt, but it's half-hearted at best. Picture this: it's a Sunday night. My family and I are sitting on the couch trying to find a movie to watch. We stumble upon a remake of Sabrina, with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond. "Should we watch it," we ask ourselves. This is a decision that could make or break family movie night. We look each other in the eye, each knowing the consequences this decision could have. "No," we decide. Then proceed to buy the original Sabrina and watch it instead. We made the right decision. I absolutely adore Audrey Hepburn, so it's definitely odd that before this I'd only seen one of her films, Funny Face. Why is it, that in these films, they have Audrey Hepburn, the most gorgeous woman on the planet, and they spend half the movie acting like she isn't the most gorgeous woman on the planet? The whole plot of Funny Face is, "'Boy does that girl have a funny face, BUT WE CAN MAKE HER BEAUTIFUL." Bruh what are you talking about, that's Audrey Hepburn. I could put Audrey Hepburn in a trash bag and she'd still look amazing. I honestly find it hilarious in these movies when they're trying to make her look little less gorgeous by putting her in somewhat plain clothes. These movies can basically be described as, "Oh look it's Audrey Hepburn," then, "Oh look it's Audrey Hepburn in slightly nicer clothes". Not to make it sound like I don't absolutely love these movies, because I do love them. I just still find this hilarious. Sabrina tells the story of the daughter of a chauffeur who is absolutely infatuated with the youngest son of the family who her father works for, David. This movie cannot stress anymore how absolutely rich this family is. Richie Rich would look at them and say, "Boy are they rich". Anyway, David is a bit of a playboy, but somehow he never notices the absolutely stunning Audrey Hepburn, who pretty much lives in the same house as him. UNTIL, she returns from Paris after two years, just as gorgeous and ten times classier. This would be all fine and dandy, except David has become engaged to the daughter of a wealthy company owner thanks to the schemes of his older, much more business savvy, brother Linus. Linus can't have David running off with some nobody, so he decides to woo Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn) away from David. Poor guy. In the process he ends up falling in love with Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn) himself (who wouldn't). Classic rom-com, and boy am I a sucker for one of those. This film is a classic for a reason. It knows exactly what it is and does it perfectly. When people talk about tight films, this is what they mean. You don't get anything more than you need, but at the same time the characters feel fully developed. It pulls it off so seamlessly that I really didn't even notice until I started to watch the remake (yes I did eventually end up watching it). The remake is a lot less tight, it spends so much more time trying to flesh out the characters, but honestly it just makes them feel more like tropes than in the original. Another thing the remake made me realize was just how good the casting was in the original. It kind of bugged me that Humphrey Bogart was at least twenty years older than Audrey Hepburn. But after watching Harrison Ford in the remake try to play Linus Larrabee I realize nobody else could've played that role half as well as Humphrey Bogart. As much as I love Harrison Ford, he was much TOO charming to play Linus Larrabee. Humphrey Bogart was also charming, but there was always that undercurrent of cynicism and willingness to be underhanded to get what he wanted. He wasn't a bad guy, but he was definitely no Prince Charming. That's part of what makes it so satisfying though when Sabrina melts his rough exterior and why Humphrey Bogart was perfect for this role. Honestly, I don't know why they even tried to do a remake of Sabrina. They were doomed to fail to be honest. The original is a classic and absolutely perfect. Honestly I think I could recommend this film to anyone. It may not be everyone's favorite movie, but I think everyone could find something to enjoy in it. Besides the romance, there's good humor and quite a bit of witty dialogue that is only made better by the chemistry between the actors. Honestly 10/10 would watch again.
1 Comment
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Aubrey KirchhoffI'm just screaming into the void and somehow getting graded on it. Archives
April 2018
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