Alfie
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: November 5, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
14
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago TribuneSid Smith
What a bright, entertaining, cleverly updated and utterly satisfying comedy the new Alfie turns out to be. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Such smooth, crisp entertainment, you barely even notice it has nothing new to say. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Law is lively and Shyer keeps the action hopping with help from the movie's original gimmick of having Alfie keep up a running monologue to the audience. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWinda Benedetti
Ultimately though, this remake doesn't stand up to the original. And it's precisely because this new Alfie is more likeable and thus less challenging. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
On its own terms, it's funny at times and finally sad and sweet. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Where Caine was like an arsonist in his relationships, Law's Alfie is more like a kid playing with matches -- innocent and genuinely surprised when things start blowing up around him. Law makes Alfie's befuddlement a surprisingly poignant thing to witness. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A breezy, sexy romp with a conscience that reflects in obvious but interesting ways on societal changes over the intervening 38 years. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Pretty good as pretty good goes, with Jude Law turning in an efficiently chipper, if palpably less dark, performance than the one that earned Michael Caine his first Oscar nomination. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The comedy in Alfie is plentiful but bittersweet, and the character's bad behavior pleases more than it repels, principally because the star Jude Law's beauty and easy charm go a long way to softening the edges. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The new Alfie is so irresistible that he hardly requires contempt. Without it, the movie is little more than a feature-length roll in the hay. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Though he's highly irresponsible, this Alfie is not quite a calculating heel, which makes the material go down easier while blunting the point. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This is a mixed bag - passable entertainment made palatable largely by Law, but the question of "Why?" (more than "What's it all about?") still lingers where this remake is concerned. Read full review
63
PremiereAaron Hillis
Law owns every scene he’s in--which is literally all of them--plus a decent supporting cast and dapper dialogue truly make for a breezy good time. Read full review
60
EmpireDan Jolin
Law's slick, pretty-boy reincarnation is less icy and insensitive than Caine's wide-boy original, so we still have all the painfully confused "What's it all about?" soul-searching. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Alas, this is a remake without a reason. Alfie can no longer shock us. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Caine played Alfie as an incorrigible S.O.B. who at least made for good company. Law makes him a delicate boy with self-control problems who can't stop talking, and his charm runs out long before the film ends. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
This new version, which retains nearly every character and echoes nearly every scenario, is somehow its complete opposite--a slight, breezy incarnation that tries like hell to dishearten, which only makes it disingenuous. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
In the original, extended, unrepentant bad behavior results in bad consequences for the protagonist. In the remake, it gets the character some life lessons and a personal growth spurt. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
Can't match the original's shock factor --abortion isn't the taboo subject it once was and the women of Sex and the City have helped make playing the field good, dirty fun. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Flaccid remake of a tough 1966 original. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The only touch of Caine's brutal sexiness is in the thrilling songs by Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart that should win Sir Mick his first Oscar. The rest is marshmallow. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The trouble with Alfie - apart from the film's existence, and the wrongheaded idea of remaking a minor classic - is that not a soul is likable. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Charles Shyer's update is a pointlessly tame romp. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The difference is that Michael Caine delivered the impossible; Jude Law can't. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Just a series of episodes: it has no trace of the structure that has supported drama and comedy for two millennia. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Perhaps the more appropriate question to put to this remake would be "What the hell’s the point?" Read full review
40
Village VoiceJessica Winter
Indeed, remake hack Charles Shyer (who processed the Parent Trap and Father of the Bride updates) plays coy with most matters sexual -- an odd and puritanical approach to a character who molds his entire existence around the procurement and enjoyment of sex. Read full review
38
New York PostMegan Lehmann
This Alfie has been castrated. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
[Law] talks straight to the camera like the young Michael Caine, but this time our hunk has got zilch to say. That's because a bastard's candour is off-limits in today's politically correct market — it just wouldn't be polite. Read full review
33
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
While his star, Jude Law, is infectiously watchable, Shyer's version of the material is tone deaf and splotchy. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
There's nothing authentic about this London lad ... Nothing particularly likable either. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
This new Alfie is earnest -- irony is so last century -- and not angry at all, since working-class anger would mean nothing here, because class means nothing here. Nothing means anything here.
30
Washington PostSean Daly
Occasionally amusing, technically lovely but ultimately dated. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
More concerned with attitude than character and too moralistic to be much fun. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Shyer's version is a thing of infinite emptiness and nauseating vanity. It's not funny, alluring, affecting, or erotic, just conceited. Read full review
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