Gloria (1999) *

Directed by Sidney Lumet. With Sharon Stone, George C.Scott and Jeremy Northam. This remake of John Cassevetes' most conventional and least original work, still manages to be inferior in every respect. The plot, once again, involves a gun moll (Stone) saving a little boy from gangsters. But unlike Gena Rowlands' trigger-happy, hard-as-nails action heroine from the original, Stone's Gloria is a wimpy bimbo who hardly ever fires a gun. In this particular instance, the latent pedophilic subtext is more amusing than disturbing, but try to imagine a film where a 6-year-old-girl tells an adult man that she likes to sleep with him.