Charade [PG]

When Reggie Lambert returns home from a skiing vacation, she is shocked to discover her home ransacked and her husband dead. To make matters worse, there’s a group of criminals who are after her husband’s riches and, since they didn’t find it with him, they are convinced that the money must be with her. But Reggie cannot find hide nor hair of any riches and soon things take a sinister turn when the gang members are mysteriously murdered one by one. 

What a funny film this was! I’d never heard of it before, but I came across it in a 4 movie classics pack in our collection and decided to give it a shot. It’s actually a really good black comedy that is perfectly balanced between comedy and suspense and it treads that fine line between comedy and thriller quite well. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

When Reggie Lambert returns home from a skiing vacation in the Alps, she is shocked to discover her home ransacked and her husband dead. To make matters worse there’s a group of criminals who are after her husband’s riches and, since they didn’t find it on him, they are convinced that she must have them. Although she tries desperately to piece together the mystery of this money, she cannot seem to find hide nor hair of any riches and soon the plot thickens and takes a sinister turn as the gang members are mysteriously murdered one by one. 

I think what I liked particularly about this movie was that it was a black comedy that was smothered in character deceptions aided by a very witty script. You really feel empathic towards poor Reggie because practically every character that she comes into contact with is lying to her and hiding some secret. The whole thing is a wonderful game of guess whose cat and mouse and it’s just brilliant, keeping you on your toes right til the very end. 

Audrey Hepburn stars as Reggie and she was just divine. Audrey has this wonderful way of being elegant, but then at the same time being really down to earth. In Charade she delivered a performance that was frightened, suspecting, boldly talkative, charming, and quite funny. She was wonderful. 

Cary Grant co-stars alongside Audrey and he was great. His was a character that held more depth and mystery than the story did and he delivered a performance that was funny, charming, odd, sinister, and very memorable. 

Starring Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, Ned Glass, and James Coburn, Charade is a wonderfully funny and exciting film packed with action, romance, murder, comedy, deception, and practically everything else in between. It was wholly brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed it.