Sleuth

An aging mystery writer (Michael Caine) confronts his wife’s lover (Jude Law) with a surprising proposition; before they’re through, they’ll both have some surprises coming. Anthony Shaffer’s play gets a facelift from writer Harold Pinter (who makes an unbilled cameo) and director Kenneth Branagh, and it’s just what you’d expect from Pinter—pared down (nearly by half, in fact), with those Pinter pauses replacing many of Shaffer’s words. Shaffer’s surprises are less startling, too (did they figure the cat was out of the bag anyway, so why bother?), and the main gimmick here is the casting: Caine played the lover in the 1972 film, and Law, who played Caine’s part in the remake of Alfie, takes his old role here too. Branagh’s direction is overly fussy, but his stars make the most of their scenes together.