Gloria Review
by Susan Granger (Ssg722 AT aol DOT com)February 3rd, 1999
Susan Granger's review of "GLORIA" (Columbia Pictures)
Following Gus Van Sant's pointless remake of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is Sidney Lumet's remake of John Cassavetes' "Gloria." Back in 1980, Cassavetes wrote and directed this story of a neighbor-woman and the little kid she shelters, fashioning it specifically for the talents of his wife Gena Rowlands, who received a Best Actress Oscar nomination. While the story essentially remains the same - except that a notebook has been changed to a computer disc - this current version is disappointing, primarily because of miscasting. Sharon Stone plays a gangster's girl-friend, just released from a Florida jail and headed back to New York, where a mob accountant named Nunez and his family are wiped out as thugs look for his "records" which have disappeared into the hands of his seven year-old son (Jean-Luke Figueroa). Stone duly rescues the cute kid and is determined to protect him. But what worked for Gena Rowlands doesn't work for Sharon Stone. You cared about Rowlands' character. She had a gruff vulnerability, an edginess, and her affection for the orphan was touching. Sharon Stone's too sassy and slick, slathering on a New York accent like thick butter-creme frosting, and there's something about her maternal instinct that doesn't ring as true as her "Basic Instinct." Steven Antin's banal script is by-the-numbers with formulaic lines like "You're driving me crazy, kid," and Sidney Lumet's direction lacks the energy and momentum of his previous films like "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon" and "12 Angry Men." Only Jeremy Northam, as an Irish gangster, and George C. Scott, as a mob boss, deliver memorable performances. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Gloria" is flimsy 4. You'd do better renting the original "Gloria," available on Columbia TriStar Home Video.
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