Made in Britain, remade in America

Worst: “Sleuth”

Caine and Law, “Alfie” stars past and present, teamed up for this do-over of a ‘70s British puzzler about a married man who engages his wife’s younger lover in a series of mind games. Making matters even more confusing: Caine stars in both the British and American versions (as the cocky young lover in the former, and as the bitter old cuckold in the latter). But that’s nothing compared to the mental effort required to figure out why a clever but essentially hollow stage adaptation that barely worked the first time was worth revisiting. Spiffy architecture and heightened sexual ambiguity are the only excuses the remake offers up, and they aren’t enough.