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That lovable rogue and lady’s man Alfie (Jude Law) evades commitment, beds almost any woman he wants and manages to do so without any hint that he’ll repent for his womanizing ways. Luckily Jude Law’s natural on screen charm carries much of the film when it begins to fall. Usually films that have the main character speaking to the audience fails but, again, Law manages to do this soft shoe shuffle without missing a beat. This post-feminist remake features women who use Alfie almost as much as he uses them; the women in his life (Marisa Tomei, Susan Sarandon, Sienna Miller) that are bright enough seem to know the score. When Alfie seduces his best friend’s (Omar Epps) dream girl, he begins to question his rootless, commitment free existence and himself. Director Charles Shyer (“Father of the Bride”, “Baby Boom”) captures much of the dated charm of the original film while updating it for today’s audience. Although it’s not a perfect film, most viewers will enjoy a romp with Alfie.

“Deconstruction of a Scene” features editor Padraic McKinley discussing the difficulty they had in shooting the shots of Alfie on his Vesper around New York City. Evidently they weren’t able to get the crowds they wanted for the background shots. So with a little bit of trickery, the director went back and shot most of it in the studio using a green screen backdrop and digitally dropped in the crowds later. You’ll notice periodically that the same women crop up in the background and that’s because of this issue with too few extras for the shoot. ***

The other extras, unlike the character of Alfie, has more substance. “Round Table with Alfie” is exactly what it sounds like; the main production personnel sit around a table and discuss the origin of the movie, what motivated them to come to the project. Director Shyer interviews the production cast including their feelings on remaking an classic, relocating it to New York and playing with the sentiments of the original project. Shyer Uses clips from both the original movie and remake to illustrate changes they made and what appealed to him and collaborator Elaine Pope in remaking this film. The idea to remake originated with Pope interestingly enough who had loved the movie since first seeing it at the age of 13. “The Women of Alfie” features Pope, Shyer and the women of the cast about how they had to update the original characters to make them fit into our world. There’s also eight deleted scenes and, as Shyer points out, they probably would have slowed down the flow of the film. Gedde Watanabe’s goofy dance sequence is also included with and without commentary. Watanabe’s goofy dance plays better than some gag reels. ---

We get two commentary tracks. Shyer and Pope provide interesting insight about the challenge of updating a film that’s well remembered by older moviegoers. The obligatory sex scene opens the movie and Shyer & Pope point out that the sex scene opening defines the character in this movie. Shyer comments about how much more attractive the women are in this remake while Pope points out that the original was “more compulsive and would bang just about anything”. ***

Shyer and editor McKinley focus much more on where the film was shot (it was shot partially in New York and partially in London due to the blizzard in New York) and how the film was put together. Shyer points out how he and the designer used billboards to comment on Alfie and the sate of his life. Shyer and McKinley also discuss where the deleted scenes included were originally in the film. Shyer also points out the challenge of having Law speak to the camera; Shyer had to find things to keep the actress/actor busy so it wouldn’t distract from or seem odd that Law was speaking to us his confidants. ---