A light-hearted remake of a Hollywood classic (which I have not seen), Harrison Ford oozes his usual charm while trying to woo a young woman away from his engaged brother to protect his family and the family business. Filled with old school cinema sensibilities in mind, there’s a disconnect somewhere in the execution that prevents Sabrina from becoming anything really special.
Sabrina Fairchild is the daughter of a modest chauffer, who works for the powerful Larrabee family. Growing up, she has always been in love with the younger of the Larrabee boys, David (played by Greg Kinnear), who has never so much as noticed her. After spending time in France, she returns to the Larrabee estate a fashionable and sophisticated woman. David is smitten with her but this is no good for business. David is already engaged to a woman from a powerful family who is in the process of merging with the Larrabee Corporation. Shrewd businessman and David’s elder brother, Linus (Harrison Ford) takes it upon himself to woo Sabrina away from his brother so the marriage and merger will not be harmed.
Ford is charming as ever as Linus Larrabee and Greg Kinnear pulls off the love-struck brother well enough but Julia Ormond fails to perform as the titular Sabrina. Perhaps it’s because Ormond, at 30 years old, is supposed to be playing a girl in her early 20s. She clearly doesn’t look that young. Perhaps this was a necessity to help mask Ford’s age (already in his early 50’s at the time). Either way, it’s pretty obvious that there is a large age difference between Sabrina and Linus and this makes it hard to buy the chemistry and romance to develops between them. Sure, older men fall for young women all the time but even as charming as Ford is, it’s hard to see Sabrina give up her doting on David for his older brother.
Ford and Kinnear have some amusing scenes together but Kinnear’s wide-eyed, idealistic attitude does grow to be a bit annoying before he snaps out of it at the end. He and Ford end up switching places on the spectrum, swapping capitalism for romanticism and vice versa. It’s the kind of convenient ending that worked back in the escapist cinema of the 40s and 50s but it just doesn’t resonate with modern audiences.
Women will likely enjoy the romance and sweetness but there is very little that is memorable about Sabrina. There’s no unique camerawork to speak of, few memorable lines and no standout performances. All you get is a marginally good time that comes and goes.
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