Today’s Prayer Focus
MOVIE REVIEW

Sabrina

Reviewed by: Tim Emmerich
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating: Better than Average
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Teens Adults
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Length: 127 min.
Year of Release: 1995
USA Release:
Featuring
Director
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Sabrina, the chauffeur’s daughter of the wealthy Larrabee family, is young and hopelessly in love with the dashing and handsome (yet, irresponsible) David Larrabee, youngest of the two Larrabee brothers. Having grown up in the estate of the Larrabees, she has spent years dreaming of David. Yet, he doesn’t even notice her. In pursuit of a career, Sabrina leaves for Paris to pursue the fashion industry, and learns photography while there. Meanwhile, back on the home front, David (Greg Kinnear) finds Dr. Elizabeth Tyson who happens to be the daughter of Patrick Tyson, owner of Tyson Electronics. They quickly become engaged while David’s older brother, Linus (Harrison Ford) works a merger of the Larrabee family company with Tyson.

When Sabrina (Julia Ormond) returns from Paris all “grown up,” she finally catches David’s eye. Now the upcoming wedding and subsequent business merger are in jeopardy. So, Linus steps in as damage control. As in the old movie, he plans to send her off to get her out of David’s mind so the business merger can go through without more trouble. There are some surprising twists that will keep you guessing as this romantic tale spins with ruthless business tactics.

This modern day remake of the 1954 classic yields some subtle humor. For instance, David continues to drive his car even though there is a parking ticket plainly in the wiper (perhaps that comes with being filthy rich). Also, the unusual accident that knocks David off his tail is humorous. Finally, people call Linus “the world’s only living heart donor,” behind his back of course.

From a Christian standpoint, this movie contains lots of deceit and lies. Also, David plays a “womanizer” and even though he is engaged to be married, he is actively pursuing Sabrina. While it is entertaining, young viewers or people having difficulty with relationships may want to avoid this one.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
“Sabrina” was one of the best movies ever. As an avid movie collector and a Christian, I purchased this one and have viewed many times. The story is one of honesty, in the end. Leaning that there is more to life than money, (“For the love of money is the root of all evil”). In the end, both David and Linus realize the truth and the love of a good woman is more important that anything money can buy. I would give this one a 10 on a scale of 1-10.
Pat
Even though this movie contains deceit the truth does come out in the end and “I’m sorry, I made a huge mistake” is an important theme we can all learn from. The movie was clean overall—No sex (only implied by David who did not hide it—the audience knew the kind of man he was) and no swearing that I can recall. I also admired Sabrina for not jumping into bed with the charming French photographer. She realized this would be a mistake. My wife and I enjoyed this one and I am sure she will see it again.
Larry
…It was much cleaner than …You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle which blatantly showed people in bed together without being married. You’ve Got Mail even used the Lord’s name in vain. Sabrina was clean, romantic and had a great ending.
Kathleen
Having seen both versions as well, this was a movie my wife and I both enjoyed. It was clean and a good remake (in my opinion) of the classic film.
T.C., age 24