It's a brave actress who takes on a role previously immortalised by Audrey Hepburn, and perhaps an even braver director who tries to give a successful, straightforward romantic thriller a surreal modern edge.
In fact, throughout The Truth About Charlie, it's often hard to fathom exactly what Jonathan Demme is trying to achieve. Brief episodes of tricksy camera work and self-consciously off-beat dialogue are interspersed with would-be romantic interludes and - oh - was that an attempt at comedy?
Crucially, the cheeky charm that Charade's leads brought to their banter-fuelled adventures is totally absent here: Newton struggles vainly with a flat script and a miscast love interest (Wahlberg, in one of his worst performances to date).
Even so, had this remake concentrated solely on being a solid thriller, it could have passed muster. But as it is, the truth is that it's a victim of its own ambitions.