Even that red tie may be a misdirect.
Nyah.
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999, not the 1968 original, and a hacked up TV version at that) is less a cautionary story than a lesson in leaping to conclusions. We follow the unexpected life seduction of elite insurance recovery specialist Catherine Banning as she begins the investigation of a painting stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: 3 men attempting a sophisticated robbery are foiled, but a painting by Monet is missing anyways.
Suspicion falls on a local Monet lover and millionaire, Thomas Crown, even as he donates a painting from his own collection to fill in for the missing Monet. As Banning pursues Crown, she is, in turn, pursued by Crown, who finds her intelligence and assertiveness very attractive. But what about the other women in his life, not to mention his business, Crown Acquisitions, which does financial deals?
This story specializes in the head feint to the left while moving to the right, from the roles of minor characters to the climactic scene in which the stolen painting is revealed while yet another disappears – in the midst of quite the clever ploy to distract the watching police.
It would be accurate to say the theme is lightweight, and yet it has its useful applications in real life, enough so to make the story interesting, and if it seems to wander afield for a while, the wrap-up makes it worthwhile for the patient, attentive audience appreciative of dry humor. It’s worth a watch on an otherwise drowsy evening.
