A flaccid remake of the classic 1954 romantic comedy.
Sabrina (1995)
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Reviews Counted:43
Fresh:26
Rotten:17
Average Rating:6/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 8 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Sydney Pollack directs this whimsical remake of the 1954 romantic comedy by Billy Wilder. Greg Kinnear and Harrison Ford deftly portray the two wealthy Larrabee brothers, who end up fighting over... Sydney Pollack directs this whimsical remake of the 1954 romantic comedy by Billy Wilder. Greg Kinnear and Harrison Ford deftly portray the two wealthy Larrabee brothers, who end up fighting over the affections of their chauffeur's daughter. When Sabrina (Julia Ormond) originally attempts to win over David Larrabee (Greg Kinnear), the younger of the two brothers, and the notorious playboy whom her father works for, he barely even knows she's alive. To help get her mind off David, Sabrina's dad sends her on a trip to Paris, where she trains to become a fashion photographer. In Europe, the mousy young girl blossoms into a beautiful woman before returning to the Larrabee estate on Long Island. At first David doesn't recognize the altered Sabrina. Once he does, however, he falls hard, which jeopardizes his impending marriage to Elizabeth, a wealthy doctor. This turn of events greatly concerns his older, more serious brother, Linus (Harrison Ford), who's counting on the marriage to cement a merger between his company and a business owned by Elizabeth's rich father. So Linus decides to woo Sabrina, hoping she'll fall for him and forget his brother. However, the scheme backfires when Linus himself begins to find the charming Sabrina irresistible. [More]
Starring: Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond, Greg Kinnear, Nancy Marchand
Starring: Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond, Greg Kinnear, Nancy Marchand, John Wood, Angie Dickinson, Richard Crenna
Director: Sydney Pollack
Director: Sydney Pollack
Composer: John Williams
Reviews for Sabrina
Ormond's face is certainly not hard to gaze at, but she looks so often ill at ease that her 'confident' gay smiles suggest, inappropriately, some masked pyschological distress.
We remain outside the fourth wall looking in but are never drawn in; bemused perhaps, even agreeably complaisant, but never entirely amused.
Sydney Pollack directs with the sort of polish that was easy to take for granted two decades ago but almost looked like classicism in 1995.
Ugly-duckling-into-swan stories are fun, but the lead characters here lack the charisma to make this romantic comedy sufficiently believable or engaging.
Ormand and Ford, who are actually okay, have the impossible tasks of following Wilder's perfect players, Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.
Not, as some reviewers claimed, a mediocre reworking of a Hollywood classic, but a truly lousy reworking of a Billy Wilder misfire.
It's hard to imagine any actress today reprising Audrey Hepburn's graceful charm, but British newcomer Julia Ormond is a particularly bad choice and Harrison Ford ain't Bogey, either. Add the film to long list of unnecessary remakes.
Blossoming into radiant color, this film has picture-postcard charms that the black-and-white earlier version could only hint at.
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