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Just as an experiment, I went out and rented the original "Thomas Crown Affair" from '68, starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway before I saw the '99 version. The differences were interesting, illuminating -- and a bit depressing.
The critiques and observations below contain a lot of SPOILERS, so don't read them if you want to maintain your sense of happy anticipation about the movie.
The '99 version (hereinafter referred to as "TC99" is photographed uninterestingly. The camera is in focus, for the most part, but a suspense/thriller/drama should have style that will set it apart, and TC99 does not. The same lush interiors and exteriors available to the ultra-wealthy are presented, the handsome bodies of the actors are put on parade, but it's very much by-the-numbers. There is nothing distinctive.
By contrast, the '68 version ("TC68" hereinafter) often (but not too often) uses a "checkerboard" technique, showing up to 10 different scenes going on concurrently, separated by masks; and sometimes the scenes combine interestingly, or go over the borders of the masks. The technique conveys the complexity of the planning that goes into the capers, and emphasizes Thomas Crown's master-mind in a beguiling and not too obvious way.
Steve McQueen's performance as the eponymous character in TC68 is both cool and ironic. He never, ever lets his guard down, save for a few very private moments when he laughs; then, and only then, does it become evident how much enjoyment he does get out of life, below his cold exterior. His role is masterfully underwritten; he needs no long, sycophantic scenes to demonstrate his success, just a single line, delivered with cool brutality to a person he just did a business deal with: "You're overpaid."
Pierce Brosnan, on the other hand, is vapid in comparison. His Thomas Crown is an amoral businessman who sneers at his enemies and surrounds himself with toadies. He visits a psychiatrist, and is merely standoffish, rather than cool.
TC99 has sex scenes, whereas TC68 does not. TC99 shows Pierce Brosnan's toned buns, and Rene Russo's quite acceptable breasts, but the scenes seem quite by rote, save a saucy little dance-as-foreplay scene.
On to the Rene Russo/Faye Dunaway comparison. Both play the same person: private insurance investigators who will do ANYTHING to recover stolen goods.
This is the crux of the movie(s). In TC68, Faye Dunaway plays a genuinely tough woman. She kidnaps (a child, yet) blackmails, and hires violent thugs. When TC fucks around on her, she cooly analyzes why he is doing it, and keeps on. When TC is too tough for her, she brings in the IRS, with all of its enormous powers. She goes dune-buggying with TC, laughing as they skid dangerously around the dunes. She's MEAN and tough.
In TC99, Rene Russo's investigator comes on hard, but drinks awful "health" drinks for breakfast; the worst she does is break into TC's home; she allows herself to be made a fool of in front of the police; when TC fucks around on her, she's all quivery and teary-eyed (and even then, the movie makes TC a "nice guy" by having it all be an understanding). She never brings in the IRS. She's a soft cookie, dammit! Not nearly the adversary that TC needs.
Finally, (barf, barf) the end of TC68 is this: the Faye Dunaway character betrays him, but he leaves her, and foxes everyone. TC stays cool.
The end of TC99 is -- a HAPPY ENDING! TC proves he's superior, he returns the painting, steals another one, breaks Rene Russo's heart, and then magically appears to take her away to a romantic life of being a rich fugitive, dependent upon his largesse.
Aaargh! That's the worst part of the film. Imagine, a film from '68 that has a tougher and more self-possessed woman than the incompetent, mushy, dependent, romantic in a film from 1999.
Without the '68 original to compare itself to, TC99 would be an acceptable use of two hours; being that the '68 version is far more adult and executed with more style, the '99 version seems to be a complete waste of time and money.
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