Although I like Harrison Ford, and have always been a big fan of his most iconic roles, I have overlooked many of his performances in "lesser"movies that I am only now keen to check out. This is all due to getting to see a bit more of Ford offscreen, and enjoying the droll and sardonic nature he often deploys in interviews. Age has allowed him to settle into the persona of an outright curmudgeon, but that has always seemed to be his preferred position.
Sabrina, a remake of a Billy Wilder-Audrey Hepburn-Humphrey Bogart film I am not familiar with, is the tale of a chauffeur's daughter (the titular Sabrina, played here by Julia Ormond) who has spent her life in love with the young playboy (David, played by Greg Kinnear) of the rich family that her father works for. Aiming to stay away from him when she is older, Sabrina starts life anew in Paris, but she is drawn back to David when she hears that he is finally looking to settle down and get married. His union with Elizabeth Tyson (Lauren Holly) will work in the favour of his older brother (Linus, played by Ford), who is looking to put together a very attractive merger package with Elizabeth's parents. As it quickly becomes clear that Sabrina may throw a spanner in the works, Linus sets out to distract her. Which is when he inevitably starts falling for her.
Written by Barbara Benedek and David Rayfiel, who I assume just had to tweak the source material to match their stars and the shiny modern world of the mid-90s, Sabrina is lightweight and surprisingly enjoyable throughout, mainly thanks to the casting. It's all a bit odd during the opening scenes, up until Sabrina returns and reconnects with a very impressed David, but things soon settle into a pleasing narrative that shows the ice cold and business-minded Linus being thawed out and reminded of how much more fun he could be having with all of his money and resources.
Director Sydney Pollack has always been reliable, if not always the very best choice for most of the films that he helmed, but he always had a particular knack for working with enjoyably varied casts orbiting one or two big names, which is why he does so well here. Ford may be the star, but Kinnear also gets to dazzle, and Ormond is allowed to give the kind of performance that feels like it's announcing her as a new shining star in the constellation of great leading ladies.
Ford gives the kind of performance I was hoping for here, very gruff and matter-of-fact while others act emotionally around him, and his ever-present charisma make the third act easy to buy into when people start to suspect that he and Sabrina have a connection. Ormond manages to delight and enchant without ever being turned into a complete "manic pixie dream girl"stereotype. She's just someone who was once an outsider, supported by a loving father to be able to do whatever she truly wanted to do with her life. Kinnear is sidelined for a lot of the runtime, but his main scenes, whether sitting down on some champagne glasses or reasserting his place in the family business, are highlights. Holly does well enough in her role, Richard Crenna and Angie Dickinson are a good choice to play her parents, Nancy Marchand is the mother of both David and Linus, and plays her part well, and John Wood, playing Sabrina's father, tries hard to stop you from wondering how much better someone like Tom Conti, James Fox, or Tom Courtenay would have been in his role. It's fun to see Paul Giamatti in a very small role, before he was being celebrated for his body of work, and Dana Ivey gets to deliver some of the best lines in the script as a very capable secretary/P.A.
It's easy to see why this wasn't a big hit when it was first released, and easy to see why it's one of many films destined to be forgotten by film fans seeking out more interesting fare, or just some of the many films that are much better than this, but Sabrina is full of performances and moments that should at least keep you smiling throughout. If you remain completely unmoved by any of it, I suspect you're actually the real-life equivalent of the character portrayed by Ford.
7/10
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