Many directors over the years have tried to imitate “The Master of Suspense”, Alfred Hitchcock.  Some have succeeded admirably, and some have been sunk by a one-dimensional lack of understanding of Hitchock’s essence. If I had to choose a perfect double feature of movies that seem to “get” Hitchcock I would be hard pressed to find two better examples than Stanley Donen’s Charade (1963: starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn) and Jonathan Demme’s The Last Embrace. They are flip sides of the same coin, with the former paying homage to Hitchcock’s wittier, stylish side and the other more interested in Hitch’s dark side.

The Truth About Charlie is a remake of Charade and as it happens it is directed by Jonathon Demme. And it does beg the question, why remake a Hitchcock homage when you’ve already done your own. Isn’t that a tad unnecessary?

Thandie Newton plays Regina (Reggie) Lampert, an attractive British woman living in Paris with her soon to be ex-husband. When she returns from holiday in The Caribbean to break the bad news she finds that he is dead and her apartment has been ransacked. Suddenly everyone seems to be interested in her well-being and how much she knew about her husband Charlie’s past. The concerned parties include a French gendarme (Christine Boisson), the dashing American Joshua Peters (Mark Wahlberg) and a mysterious American government official (Tim Robbins). Add to that mix a motley crew of ruffians that know Reggie’s every move and it becomes clear to her that she’s the only one who doesn’t know “The Truth about Charlie”.

Unnecessary is a good word. Although the movie is well made and nicely paces there are too many diversions to make the suspense really gel. The big showdown at the end is a total mess. And to make things worse Demme telegraphs the big surprises (there’s two I remembered from the first movies) way too soon.

So what’s good about The Truth About Charlie? It has its moments. Perhaps the nicest thing one can say is that it marks a return for Demme to the oddball whimsy that marked his early comedies all the way up to Married to the Mob. In one scene where Peters romances Reggie with the seductive tunes of Charles Aznavour the legendary French singer himself shows up. Another scene involving the tango is also quite engaging. You can’t make a movie set in Paris without making the most of the locations and Demme does an excellent job showing both the elegant and seedier sides of The City of Lights.

If you’re satisfied watching one of America’s greatest living directors give you a guided tour through Paris in the guise of an intermittingly entertaining romantic thriller, you could do much worse. It is certainly no catastrophe. But it’s no Charade either.

Rated PG 13 

At area theaters tomorrow

2 and ½ reels out of 4

The Sum of All Fears

Available on video Tuesday

PG 13

More in the spirit of 60’s cold war dramas than modern action flick, The Sum of All Fears had a strong opening weekend then sort of faded. But as retro cold war films go, it’s no bomb. And Affleck, who is as good here as he was in Changing Lanes, seems determined to earn respect as an actor. Here he plays Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst who gets to play with the big boys when Russia and U.S. are forced into a deadly stalemate by fascist terrorist organization. When a nuclear warhead decimates Baltimore Ryan must get to the President before he orders a strike on Russia. A solid effort from director Phil Alden Robinson. 

 Originally appeared in The South Philadelphia Review