Any film that bills itself a remake of John Cassavetes's 1980 'Gloria' is obviously putting itself up to an incredibly high standard, and without the benefit of the doubt of originality. This 1999 version thus not surprisingly fails to live up to its namesake, but if you go in resigned to this inevitability, you can still enjoy it albeit reservedly.
The real problem with this take is the writing. The concept is familiar enough to keep the essential plot elements together while still trying to do something different enough to hold our interest. To this end, the inciting incident near the start is done chillingly enough to give us hope that this might be good on its own merits. Unfortunately, as the film progresses, the original parts - save some nice one-liners - are executed progressively less gracefully. The pretext behind Gloria's pairing with the kid isn't 100% convincing (though could be worse) and the conclusion is decidedly sloppy. The plot feels by that time, as one writer said of a TV episode from many years ago, to hang together about as well as a soggy potato chip.
Fortunately, director Sid Lumet salvages what he can, ramping up the heat and the action as much as is tolerably possible to keep us entertained. Sharon Stone as a noticeably-younger take on the title character adds more than enough sex appeal - physical and emotional - to her character to hold our interest even when the script goes awry, as it often does. She plays the character with a lighter and somewhat less intense demeanor than Gena Rawlings did, but with just as much energy, and her airier way is arguably justified by the age differential. She definitely didn't deserve a Golden Razzie nomination for the role, but Jean-Luke Figueroa as Nicky, the kid, arguably did. On the other hand, he didn't have much to go on, either, the script withholding from him the kind of rough edge and from his relationship with Gloria the intense, almost romantic bittersweet tension that was there in the original.
"Less intense" is becoming something of a refrain in this review. It's an assessment that doesn't apply to *most* of the action but certainly to the interstices. But perhaps this too could not have been helped no matter what the script, performers or director: as other reviewers have pointed out, the original 'Gloria' was above all set in the gritty, dangerous New York that in hindsight existed only briefly from the 1960s through the 1980s. A 1999 version would have had to be a period piece to capture the same spirit as the original and even then would have been both a tougher task and a tougher sell.
Overall I'd give it a solid B-: worthwhile to see Sharon Stone as much as or moreso than to see her as the eponymous character, and good for a light, laid-back evening in to chill down after a stressful day, but don't go in looking for anything deep, analytical or thought-provoking.
The real problem with this take is the writing. The concept is familiar enough to keep the essential plot elements together while still trying to do something different enough to hold our interest. To this end, the inciting incident near the start is done chillingly enough to give us hope that this might be good on its own merits. Unfortunately, as the film progresses, the original parts - save some nice one-liners - are executed progressively less gracefully. The pretext behind Gloria's pairing with the kid isn't 100% convincing (though could be worse) and the conclusion is decidedly sloppy. The plot feels by that time, as one writer said of a TV episode from many years ago, to hang together about as well as a soggy potato chip.
Fortunately, director Sid Lumet salvages what he can, ramping up the heat and the action as much as is tolerably possible to keep us entertained. Sharon Stone as a noticeably-younger take on the title character adds more than enough sex appeal - physical and emotional - to her character to hold our interest even when the script goes awry, as it often does. She plays the character with a lighter and somewhat less intense demeanor than Gena Rawlings did, but with just as much energy, and her airier way is arguably justified by the age differential. She definitely didn't deserve a Golden Razzie nomination for the role, but Jean-Luke Figueroa as Nicky, the kid, arguably did. On the other hand, he didn't have much to go on, either, the script withholding from him the kind of rough edge and from his relationship with Gloria the intense, almost romantic bittersweet tension that was there in the original.
"Less intense" is becoming something of a refrain in this review. It's an assessment that doesn't apply to *most* of the action but certainly to the interstices. But perhaps this too could not have been helped no matter what the script, performers or director: as other reviewers have pointed out, the original 'Gloria' was above all set in the gritty, dangerous New York that in hindsight existed only briefly from the 1960s through the 1980s. A 1999 version would have had to be a period piece to capture the same spirit as the original and even then would have been both a tougher task and a tougher sell.
Overall I'd give it a solid B-: worthwhile to see Sharon Stone as much as or moreso than to see her as the eponymous character, and good for a light, laid-back evening in to chill down after a stressful day, but don't go in looking for anything deep, analytical or thought-provoking.