The 1939 Irene Dunne-Charles Boyer romance
Love Affair
, remade with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in 1957 as
An Affair to Remember
, became a vehicle for real-life couple Warren Beatty and Annette Bening in this 1994 rendition. The well-worn story remains the same, as a man and a woman, both engaged to other people, fall madly in love while traveling, indulge in a brief but intense affair, then agree to part and sort out their feelings. They are to meet again at the top of the Empire State Building if their feelings persist, but a series of unfortunate circumstances threatens to keep the lovers apart. Despite polished visuals and a time-tested narrative, this variation suffers in comparison to its two predecessors, not to mention the previous year's
Sleepless in Seattle
, which had drawn on
for several of its most memorable sequences. It does features Katherine Hepburn's first film appearance in 13 years.