... this movie not only said something but was an evocative depiction of a particular way of life in a particular era.
However, when I want to watch a documentary, I can do that. When I see a movie, I want to be entertained or edified. While Michael Caine - one of the most overrated actors of the era, IMHO - plays for the first time the bone dry solipsist he's done repeatedly in his career, his Alfie is an unpleasant slacker; he professes to care for various people down the road, but not enough to summon the motivation to do much for them or to keep them. The women around him are scarcely more pleasant themselves, succumbing quickly to some charisma they fancy they see (but the viewer does not), completely enslaving themselves at once for the occasional scrap of his attention and often being cajoled to support him in his dingy, barren flat. There is little sense of dramatic tension, and the plot line spirals downward to a predictable end.
No doubt Alfie was daring in its day, but take away the shock value of the abortion issue and the unrepentant hedonism, and what DOES this film have, precisely?
3/10.
However, when I want to watch a documentary, I can do that. When I see a movie, I want to be entertained or edified. While Michael Caine - one of the most overrated actors of the era, IMHO - plays for the first time the bone dry solipsist he's done repeatedly in his career, his Alfie is an unpleasant slacker; he professes to care for various people down the road, but not enough to summon the motivation to do much for them or to keep them. The women around him are scarcely more pleasant themselves, succumbing quickly to some charisma they fancy they see (but the viewer does not), completely enslaving themselves at once for the occasional scrap of his attention and often being cajoled to support him in his dingy, barren flat. There is little sense of dramatic tension, and the plot line spirals downward to a predictable end.
No doubt Alfie was daring in its day, but take away the shock value of the abortion issue and the unrepentant hedonism, and what DOES this film have, precisely?
3/10.