Sleepless In Alaska

Rating: 7/10 (16 January 2010)

I haven't seen the original Swedish (I think) movie which was remade by Hollywood but judging from the remake I'd guess it's yet another foul-up in the long line of 'foreign' movies that distinguish themselves in some way and make a noise at the box office sufficiently loud to attract Hollywood 'interest' and then wind up as inferior copies of a fine original. There's not too much wrong with this yarn which sees two LA detectives who happen to be facing disciplinary hearings drafted to help the local cops in Alska solve the murder of a teenage girl. Al Pacino more or less phones it in as the main cop but Hilary Swank is good as the local version, dogged rather than inspired. Robin Williams has to wait over half the movie til he gets his chance to play cat-and-mouse with Pacino. Good but not memorable.