Andrew Scott stars in a strangely inert retelling of The Talented Mr. Ripley

Just because a movie is iconic and beloved doesn't mean it shouldn't be remade, especially if it was based on another work in the first place. It is equally true of the thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley from 1999 as it would be for anything else. Anthony Minghella took sweeping liberties in his adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1955 crime novel—itself a genre-defining classic—about a young con artist who first infiltrates and then cannibalizes the life of a wealthy American playboy eschewing a carefree existence on the Italian coast. There's room for a little more time to access other parts of Highsmith's book than Minghella did, especially in the more expansive medium of an eight-part miniseries.

But something has gone wrong with Ripley, a taut black-and-white retelling of the story starring Andrew Scott and written and directed by acclaimed screenwriter Steven Zaillian, now streaming on Netflix. Zaillian (who wrote Schindler's List, among many other great films, and wrote and directed the poignant HBO miniseries The Night Of) is clearly trying to be more true to Highsmith's sour, misanthropic, internalized tone than Minghella's more busy and melodramatic film. But weird casting decisions, overly fussy direction and inert performances sink any chance it might have of muscle its way past the film in anyone's imagination. That's a handsome dude.

In the story, Tom Ripley is a smart grifter living a dirty existence in New York when he is recruited by the rich shipbuilder Herbert Greenleaf to travel to Italy. Greenleaf wants Ripley to persuade her son, Dickie Greenleaf, to stop wasting money and time "studying painting" and return home to the family business. Dickie is only a vague acquaintance of Ripley's, but Ripley hungrily seizes the opportunity to live a different life. Once in Italy, he becomes obsessed with Dickie, a dissolute golden boy, and clings to him and his privileged existence like a limpet. When Dickie's girlfriend, Marge, becomes suspicious and Ripley feels his new life is threatened, things take a dark turn.