Gratuitous remake with too many defects

Rating: Null/10 (16 January 2005)

Given the general nature of the material and the highly dramatic conclusion of the HUSTLER there was simply no room for a sequel--nothing else to say. Besides, didn't Bert Gordon warn Eddie not to ever walk into a big time pool again?
The defects of COLOR are many and varied but we can begin with the flippant quality of almost all the pool shooting scenes. The Hustler's were completely believable and dripping with authenticity. Fats and fast Eddie were pool players who took tremendous pride in their game and comported themselves with great dignity. The fact that Eddie got drunk and made an ass of himself while losing all his money to Fats was used, quite accurately, to demonstrate a major character flaw. The viewer is actually embarrassed for this giggling fool who a moment before was taking Minnesota Fats apart.
In COLOR, the kibitzers are frequently overly boisterous and sometimes seemingly crowding the players. In one scene, Cruise actually sets a beer on the table--an act that would result in a prompt and severe admonishment if not ejection in any decent pool room. All that Samurai stuff with the pool cue would likely have gotten his head taken off. The only character who actually slithered around the table and looked like a shooter was Grady, who showed all the grace of an actual hustler. Everyone else, including Newman and Cruise, basically resemble characters out of the game at the local YMCA. A wasted cameo by Steve Mizerak serves for emphasis.
There is no chemistry between Newman and Cruise or between Cruise and the young lady. At no time, despite the major premise of the movie, did I feel that these characters were even vaguely interested in one another. The ability of Paul Newman to play a driven, desperate character is central to most of his great roles, (Hombre, Hud, CH Luke) but by the time he made this movie his voice and general delivery were considerably diminished. Not that it would have mattered given this material.
Finally, there is always a fine line when it comes to what is honorable hustling and what is an out and out scam. No one is expected to display his best stick from the beginning of the evening, and some gamesmanship is certainly acceptable in any money game, but I found it unlikely that a man who could introduce the "two brothers and a stranger" ruse could actually be offended by Vincent's subsequent insistent that he accept half the payoff money from Vincent's dive he took in the match between them. (By the way, wouldn't handing that envelope to Vinny after forfeiting the match sort of make the poor guy a marked man?)
The final shot left room for another sequel, thank God that is unlikely to happen at this point