Harrison Ford takes on the Humphrey Bogart role in the Sidney Pollack remake of Billy Wilder's 1954 SABRINA. Greg Kinnear plays his younger brother, and Julia Ormond plays Sabrina, the free-spirited daughter of the chauffeur for the massive estate run by Ford and his mommy (Nancy Marchand). Sabrina comes home from a long stay in Paris at an awkward moment for the wealthy family, and it is up to the stuffy, aloof Ford to persuade her to return to Paris. Ford is much too old for his role, although he is very convincing in his portrayal of an obsessed business tycoon. You'd almost think he was appearing in another movie, something involving, say, a murder or kidnaping. Ormond is not nearly appealing as Audrey Hepburn from the original, and in fact she is less appealing than her costar Lauren Holly, who plays a doctor soon to marry Kinnear. So I don't buy that Ford eventually falls for Ormond at all. I also didn't give a hoot about the details of the family business. Kinnear, who is actually pretty funny as Harrison's kid brother, is inexplicably left out of the entire middle of the movie so that it can focus on Ford wooing the confused Sabrina, who thinks she loves Kinnear but then decides she loves Ford. Yuck. Imagine kissing the wrinkly-faced Ford. I would have some fun with Ormond's lackluster performance and undistinguished appearance right about here, but instead let it be said that it simply was a bad idea to remake this film. SABRINA 1995 was not Ormond's fault.
Review of Sabrina
