Charade

Contrary to how my reviews may sound, I don't look for flaws in a movie. I want to like everything I see. When a movie presents a flaw, I can't ignore it, but I never actively seek them. But I don't like to pass out five snowflakes willy-nilly either. Doing so devalues the specialness of the rating. It should be rarified air. Getting a perfect score should be held for the very best, not just "I liked it a lot!". To quote those great sages Beavis & Butt-head, "if nothing sucked, and everything was cool, how would you know it was cool?". With all that said, I spent the night and this morning scrutinizing my experience with Charade, trying in vain to think of a reason not to give it five stars. I couldn't find a flaw in the acting. I mean, look, it's Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant in the lead, and Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, and James Coburn in supporting roles. That is a murderer's row of acting right there. There isn't a single person there who isn't a home-run hitter. And the chemistry between Hepburn and Grant is intoxicating. It reminded me so much of the chemistry between Grant and Grace Kelly in Rear Window. Hepburn's Reggie might be a bit more damsel-like, but she's no less sassy, brassy, or bold. My wife and I got a kick out of this being the second Grant movie we'd seen where his romantic interest is thirsty as hell and is not even trying to hide it, and he's making no bones about not wanting to get down. Only Cary Grant could pull off a character that doesn't want to sleep with those two women. Also, Grant does some action work in this, like leaping across balconies and doing a back kick like he's a ninja. Who knew? I couldn't find a flaw in the direction. The cinematography is bright and breezy and captures the adventure of the script and the chemistry of the leads. The actors here hardly needed directing, I imagine, but even so, Stanley Donen gets the best out of his performers here. He knows when and how to shift gears and have it feel seamless, from humor to suspense to romance. Not once did this movie's blend of so many genres ever feel disjointed or out of place. The music heightens every moment (even if the wood block player must've put a hole in it for how much he was pounding that thing) in just the right way. I couldn't find any issues in the script either. Somehow, this movie balances humor, suspense, action, mystery, and a caper, all while taking on a Hitchcockian tone to all of it without feeling like a copy. I've seen others say "it's the best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never directed", and it's true, but it's more than that. It compares, to me, to Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, the only movie of his I've seen that even dips its toes into comedy. This is what might've happened if Hitch went full-on gallows humor with one of his caper movies. There isn't a stinker of a joke in the movie. The funeral scene, especially, had me giggling (especially Hepburn's reaction shots). And there's a clever inversion of one of Hitch's favorite tropes; Charade flips the genders of his "wrong man, wrong place, wrong time" trope, putting Hepburn in the slot of the unfortunate everyperson caught up in a conspiracy, and Grant as the icy, mysterious companion. And it works SO WELL. I tried to find a flaw, if only to make sure I wasn't just wrapped up in recency bias and a good time. I couldn't find a single one, and I'm okay with that. This movie is utterly charming, breezy, fun, thrilling, and wholly entertaining, and what's better is I didn't expect it to be this good. I thought it might be fun, but this was an absolute blast. I love not only being surprised by a movie, but having it exceed all possible expectations.