Movie review: ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ (1999)

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A still photograph from the 1999 movie “The Thomas Crown Affair.”

While reviewing “After the Sunset” (click here to read it), I found myself mentioning the remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair” several times as a comparison. Well, I thought, maybe I should review “The Thomas Crown Affair” … and here it comes. I have to say I’m not a big fan of remakes (look at “Fun with Dick and Jane” as just one example of a bland revival – click here to read my review of the original). There is a reason that someone copies something – usually because it was good and because they don’t have the same level of creativity as the originators. However, I can’t say that the remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair” is better because I haven’t watched the original in its entirety. I’d have to believe that Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway did an exemplary job, but I still cannot compare. “The Thomas Crown Affair” heated up screens with a couple of fortysomethings hooking up (especially on a staircase) and is a solid film from first frame to its last.

‘The Thomas Crown Affair’
(1999; 113 minutes; rated R; directed by John McTiernan and starring Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo and Denis Leary)

ADVENTURE IS SOMETIMES BETTER THAN MONEY

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia and the updating of links on March 23, 2020. I again expanded the review on Dec. 21, 2025.)

An old saying says that imitation is the best form of flattery, but I’m not sure that “After the Sunset” was trying to imitate the remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair.” In any case, the two have many similarities with the exception being that “The Thomas Crown Affair” is a good film while “After the Sunset” is your basic crapfest.

The similarities pile up: Both films have Pierce Brosnan; both are caper films; both have a steamy component between Brosnan and the female lead; both have intricate plots; and it even drills down to minutiae such as Brosnan driving an American muscle car on an island paradise.

A still photograph from the 1999 movie “The Thomas Crown Affair.”

However, there’s one big difference: “The Thomas Crown Affair” is good filmmaking with solid acting and a well put-together story – and it didn’t have to suffer an abominable performance from Woody Harrelson. Actually, there was a second: Director John McTiernan was top-shelf, while “After the Sunset’s” Brett Ratner’s a bit uneven in the directing portion of his career.

McTiernan’s CV is packed with great action flicks, just take “Die Hard” (click here to read my review) as one, and his resume certainly trumps Ratner’s CV with such things as the “Rush Hour” franchise – although I do like his work on “The Family Man” with Nic Cage and Téa Leoni (click here to read my review). BTW: McTiernan’s career cratered in the early 2000s after he went to prison for lying to FBI agents – see more later in this review.

A still photograph from the 1999 movie “The Thomas Crown Affair.”

“The Thomas Crown Affair” also reaped a lot of publicity because of the age of its stars. Rene Russo, who plays “Catherine Banning,” was 45 when the film was released but was certainly up to a steamy scene on a staircase with Brosnan (who was 46) and later in the film did a topless shot on a beach that certainly wasn’t a scene given in condescension to an aging star’s ego.

Still, the looks of the two headlining actors remained secondary throughout as both gave excellent performances worthy as near top of each’s resume. The supporting cast, especially two cops (Denis Leary and Frankie Faison), is solid but has to take a backseat to the chemistry between Brosnan and Russo.

In “The Thomas Crown Affair,” Brosnan is multi-millionaire businessman “Thomas Crown” and he’s bored with huge business deals where he completely overwhelms any opponent. So, you see him pull off a big art heist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He’s organized what appears as if it’s a robbery, but it’s just a diversion for him stealing a $100 million painting. Ah, he doesn’t want the genteel life of a businessman after all.

With the painting gone, the insurance company sends in Russo to investigate and bring back their painting. She immediately focuses on Brosnan, who helped catch one of the crooks (he tripped him) and even temporarily donates a valuable painting of his own to hang in the place of the missing piece.

So begins the dance between that that will, of course, make them lovers (the great staircase scene); adversaries; and, with a final twist, leaving her wondering what went wrong all around … until he’s sitting behind her on a jet. Awwww.

Now, let me look at the headliners …

  • A still photograph from the 1999 movie “The Thomas Crown Affair.”

    Although he’d fail completely with his acting in “After the Sunset,” two-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one) Brosnan is the perfect choice here to play the title character. He has the look, he has the sophistication and, most of all, he has the accent. Brosnan looks like he’s having fun here and, just like in many careers, when you’re having fun and you’re this good – then your work is really good. A former “007,” Brosnan was also in “The November Man” and was sharp in the little-remembered “The Tailor of Panama” with Jamie Lee Curtis. Unlike many “James Bond” fans, I truly enjoyed Brosnan’s work in the “007” franchise – especially in “GoldenEye” (click here to read my review) – and I really liked him in the TV mini-series “Noble House” (click here to read my review) and he was a really great Russian agent in the espionage thriller “The Fourth Protocol” (click here to read my review). Pierce was nominated for TV’s “Nancy Astor” and the film “The Matador.”

  • A still photograph from the 1999 movie “The Thomas Crown Affair.”

    Russo’s emotions swing from chilly to condescending to anger to happy, but there is an adjective for just about all of them: smoldering. She’s looks smoldering just walking into a museum. It is remarkable how much better Russo is here than she was in “Tin Cup” (click here to read my review). It was perfect casting at the perfect time for the perfect role. Russo was also in Clint Eastwood’s “In the Line of Fire” (click here to read my review) but was at the top of her game again in 2002 with the wonderful and completely overlooked comedy “Big Trouble” opposite Tim Allen (click here to read my review).

As I noted, Leary and Faison do good work as cops trying to find a thief.

  • A still photograph from the 1999 movie “The Thomas Crown Affair.”

    A two-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Leary, who plays “Det. Michael McCann” and becomes the longsuffering voice of reason on Russo’s shoulder (although she gives him a cold shoulder). He brings his usual brand of off-handed semi-sarcasm to the table and he should have seen more screen time. Leary was also solid in a small role in “Demolition Man” with Arnold Schwarzenegger (click here to read my review). I liked him much better in the HBO film “Recount” about the 2000 presidential election (and he was nominated for it – click here to read my review) and also better in “Wag the Dog” (click here to read my review) with Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman. He was also in “Two if by Sea” with Sandra Bullock and “Draft Day” with Kevin Costner (click here to read my review). Leary’s other nomination was for TV’s “Rescue Me.”

  • Faison, who plays “Det. Paretti” was “Barney” in “The Silence of the Lambs” (click here to read my review), is a bit more lenient of Russo’s excesses and brings a bit of bonhomie to the film. He provided just what Leary needs in this film. I liked Faison work in the fall-down funny “White Chicks” (click here to read my review) and he was in “Coming to America” with Eddie Murphy. Faison’s work spans both TV – including a soap opera – and the big screen and he’s had more than 120 acting credits since his first in 1974.

A couple of accomplished actors have small roles that get lost easier in the big picture than Leary and Faison and they are three-time Golden Globe nominee Ben Gazzara and Emmy nominee Fritz Weaver. Both are solid, but their parts could have been written out of the film without missing a beat. Gazzara was in “Road House” with Patrick Swayze (click here to read my review) while Weaver got his Emmy nod for “Holocaust.” Gazzara died at 81 in 2012 of pancreatic cancer, while Weaver died at 90 in 2016.

Since this is a remake of the 1968 film with Steve McQueen it’s neat to note that Faye Dunaway, who had the Russo role in the original, has a small role as Brosnan’s therapist here. Dunaway, who was once married to Peter Wolf (one-time vocalist and front man for “The J. Geils Band”), doesn’t get much to work with here – but at least she got work. Dunaway won an Oscar for “Network” and earned nominations for both “Chinatown” and the iconic, violent blockbuster “Bonnie and Clyde.” She was also solid in the espionage classic “Three Days of the Condor” with Robert Redford (click here to read my review).

Oh, and here’s what I wrote about McTiernan in my review of “Die Hard:” “At one time, McTiernan was one of the best action directors working in Hollywood. You’ll easily remember ‘Predator’ (click here to read my review), ‘The Hunt for Red October’ (click here to read my review) and the remake of ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ (click here for my review). His career ran aground for lying to FBI agents and he served time in federal prison, but not before launching the completely horrific remake of “Rollerball” (click here for look at that one). Too bad that John lost it; he hasn’t had a directing credit since 2003, but he has one that was “in production” in early 2020.

Oh, again: I’ll never understand how filmmakers choose names. Sometimes they change the name from the source material, but not here. In “The Thomas Crown Affair” you’ll find that one cop has a full name – Leary’s “Det. Michael McCann” – while Faison’s only has a last name – “Det. Paretti.” Hmmmm. I wonder why …

“The Thomas Crown Affair” was the 31st ranked film at the U.S. box office in 1999 with $69.3 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. It apparently was a financial success, too, as Wiki reports that worldwide it made $124.3 million on a budget of $43 million. The No. 1 film of the year was “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” with $431 million. The other films from 1999 that I’ve reviewed for my blog are:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Brosnan’s middle name is Brendan; Gazzara’s birth name was Biagio Anthony Gazzara; and Dunaway’s full name is Dorothy Faye Dunaway.
  • The Mustang muscle car that Brosnan drives on the island was supposed to be used in McTiernan’s Last Action Hero with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it didn’t make it. So, the car was brought from McTiernan’s garage for “The Thomas Crown Affair.”
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “In Thomas Crown’s bedroom, briefly visible on his dresser is an autographed and personalized black and white photo from supermodel Cindy Crawford.”
  • Michael Lombard has a nice little role as the museum staff member “Bobby McKinley,” who has a talking relationship with museum patron Brosnan. He is smooth in the moments he’s on the screen was also in “Network” with Dunaway as well as a card playing prosecutor in “Rounders” with Matt Damon (click here to read my review). He died at 86 in 2020, less than a week after his birthday. Lombard’s birth name was Michael LaBombarda.
  • The painting of a man with an apple in front of his face is “The Son of Man” by René Magritte.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “The idea of unusual heat in the museum rendering thermal cameras useless came from director John McTiernan‘s earlier movie Predator (1987). In that movie, McTiernan’s actual thermal cameras began to fail when the jungle temperature broke 90 degrees Fahrenheit.”
  • Click here for IMDb.com’s trivia page about the film …

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