Director Jonathan Demme claims he instructed Mark Wahlberg to "forget Cary Grant" during filming of The Truth about Charlie, his updated version of the romantic suspense classic Charade. Easy for him to say – but how about viewers? Forget about Cary Grant in Charade? Might as well ask us to forget about Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind, Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen, or Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark. No way.

"Charade was a huge hit that has pretty much become an enduring classic," admits Oscar-winner Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), who calls the movie one of his all-time favorite flicks. "It’s a terrific story with rich characters and settings. I love the way it combines mystery and suspense with relationships and humor."

I couldn’t agree more. No matter how many times I view Charade, I’m fascinated by everything about this almost perfect movie. It’s great fun watching Audrey Hepburn fall for Cary Grant in Paris – then struggle over whether or not she should trust him. Could he be one of the people searching for a fortune stolen by her murdered husband, and does he think she knows where this fortune is hidden?

In his remake, Demme wanted to pay homage to both Charade’s director Stanley Donen and the "French New Wave" filmmaking approach -- which blossomed in Paris while Donen was involved with Charade in the 1960s. To accomplish his goal, Demme used hand-held camera work similar to that of the New Wave filmmakers. "We did every shot with an un-mounted camera," he explains. A bad decision in my book. To me, this technique gave The Trouble with Charlie a jerky look that made it very difficult to watch. I much prefer the elegant filmmaking style of Donen’s Charade.

Demme also changed the relationship between the characters played by Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant in the original movie. This time, it’s the man who has a crush on the woman, now played by Thandie Newton (Beloved). Although Newton projects a playful charm and is delightful in some scenes, she’s no Hepburn. Still, casting for that role could have been worse (Jennifer Love Hewitt?). Unfortunately, the chemistry between Wahlberg and Newton generates a mere tingle – not even close to those exciting sparks between Grant and Hepburn. And putting a beret on Wahlberg in no way makes up for his serious miscasting as the enigmatic Joshua Peters, a man who appears too concerned about helping the lovely widow (Newton).

Demme knew how impossible it would be for Wahlberg to follow Grant. "I referred to Mark as the ‘anti-Cary Grant,’ " he declares. "Instead of this older, dapper, elegant, urbane guy, we were going for a young guy – street smart, edgy, self-made – a Boy Scout on the surface who might just have a Heart of Darkness on the inside."

It didn’t work for me. Wahlberg, so incredible in Rock Star, seems out of place here in every way possible. Granted, the script called for switches in identity, but Wahlberg appears confused himself about who he was supposed to be. He dances a mean tango, though, in one of the movies few enjoyable sequences.

Although not as big a casting goof as Wahlberg, the usually brilliant Tim Robbins (Shawshank Redemption) has trouble making Walter Matthau’s "Mr. Bartholomew" role his own. As the mysterious American embassy official, Robbins alternates between hamming it up and saying his lines with little enthusiasm.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t find The Trouble with Charlie a total loss. Christine Boisson (Emmanuelle) turns in a gem of a performance as the tough Paris Police Commandant, and the legendary Charles Aznavour’s cameo brightens things up considerably. Listening to Aznavour sing "When You Love Me," his latest romantic ballad, almost makes up for the missing strains of Henry Mancini’s haunting Charade background score. Even so, guess which music I’m humming right now?

(Released by Universal Pictures and rated "PG-13" for some violence, sexual content, and nudity.)