Time: 114 Minutes
Age Rating: M
Cast:
Pierce Brosnan as Thomas Crown
Rene Russo as Catherine Banning
Denis Leary as Detective Michael McCann
Director: John McTiernan

I decided to revisit the 1999 Thomas Crown Affair after hearing there was going to be a new one of these movies released next year, directed by and starring Michael B. Jordan. I didn’t have much of a memory of it from my last viewing outside of Pierce Brosnan stealing a painting, but rewatching it now, I like it.

Despite the movie being about theft, there aren’t many actual heist scenes here, it’s pretty much just in the first act and last act where you get any of it. However, the opening was really good and I enjoyed the payoff in the last third. Instead, the driving force of the movie is the cat and mouse game between the two leads and the “will they won’t they” between them. Overall, it’s pretty entertaining throughout. The only thing I wasn’t into is that throughout the movie, it would occasionally cut to Pierce Brosnan talking to his psychiatrist played by Faye Dunaway, and it really didn’t amount to much by the end.

The cast is pretty good, it mostly comes down to the two leads in Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo, who have great on screen chemistry together, and Brosnan is particularly charming and suave here, possibly more than in any of his James Bond films.

John McTiernan’s energetic direction really helps to make the film feel alive. The editing is energetic, and the heist scenes, while sparse, are filmed and put together really well.

The Thomas Crown Affair is an entertaining, stylish, energetic and well directed romantic thriller.