Diane English's Planned Remake of "The Women"

Diane English, the auteur of TV's "Murphy Brown," has been trying to get her planned remake of George Cukor's "The Women" in production for about ten years now. Stars have come and gone. Julia Roberts was once attached to it, but no more. Meg Ryan, however, still is.

What seemed like a bad idea a decade ago has grown on me. In fact, I started to indulge in fantasy casting at one point and, about a year ago, I mentioned to my wife that an all Latina cast might be a novel idea. In my head, the film would star Penelope Cruz, Selma Hayek, Eva Langoria, Paz Vega, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Esposito and Eva Mendez. Think about it. It could be fun.

Well, filming has finally begun and Mendez is part of the cast (as Crystal Allen, the Joan Crawford part), along with Ryan (who plays the lead, Mary, created in the original film by Norma Shearer). Rounding out English's ensemble are Annette Bening (as Sylvia, the Roz Russell role), Jada Pinkett Smith, Carrie Fisher, Debra Messing, Bette Midler, Cloris Leachman, Lynn Whitfield, Debi Mazur, Ana Gasteyer, Joanna Gleason and Candice Bergen.

The 1939 Cukor film, of course, had a screenplay by Anita Loos from the Clare Boothe Luce play. English has written her own script and, in a move that's contrary to what's usually done today, has retained all the original names of the piece's characters. You may have already noticed.

Hurrah for her.

Again, no men will be in the cast (unlike David Miller and Fay Kanin's 1956 musical remake with June Allyson and Joan Collins.)

After this, English moves on to "First Man," starring Meryl Streep as The President and Robert DeNiro as you-know-what.

(Artwork: Poster art from George Cukor's "The Women"; Eva Mendes as Crystal Allen, the "Joan Crawford part," in Diane English's planned remake)

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Anyone interested in perusing some 2060 of my film reviews, dating back to 1994, can do so by simply going to RottenTomatoes.Com

Robert Benton on Sex and Violence in Movies

Matt Prigge, a film critic for Philadelphia Weekly, offered a highly readable
interview with filmmaker Robert Benton in the Sept. 26-Oct. 2 issue of the Philly alternative. Benton, of couse, was hyping his new film, "Feast of Love."

In the course of their chat, Benton had the following to say about sex and violence in American movies:

"We're frank about violence and we're not frank about sex. That seems odd. I think I'd rather be frank about sex than violence."

Odd? Not really, Bob. Think about it. This country was founded by angry Puritants - a bunch of people who were uptight and repressed about sex but had no qualms blowing off someone's head with a rifle.

These attitudes remain ingrained in American some 200 years later - epitomized by the American moviegoer's adolescent taste in movies in general (Beavis and Butthead, anyone?) and by the fire-and-brimstone anti-sex standards of the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board in particular.

In all my years as a movie critic, whenever a parent would contact me inquiring about a film's R rating, he/she would be concerned only about the movie's sexual content, never its violence.

Maybe that's why American movies are "frank about violence," to quote Benton, but not about sex. After 200-plus years, I don't see this changing - at least not in our lifetime.

(Artwork: Robert Benton, right, on the set of 1979'2 "Kramer Vs.Kramer" with Dustin Hoffman. That's producer Stanley Jaffe in the background)

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Anyone interested in perusing some 2060 of my film reviews, dating back to 1994, can do so by simply going to RottenTomatoes.Com

cinema obscura: Joey Lauren Adams' "Come Early Morning" (2007)

"Come Early Morning," the directorial debut of actress Joey Lauren Adams, will be televised on the Lifetime cable channel at 9 p.m. (est) on Saturday, October 6th.

The film, starring Ashley Judd in another fine performance, played a handful of film festivals, received a limited (very limited) theatrical release earlier this year and then went to DVD - all within the space of a few months.

That's gotta be a record. Another neglected film.

Cinema Obscura is a recurring feature of The Passionate Moviegoer, devoted to those films that have been largely forgotten. Suggestions welcome.

(Artwork: Actress-turned-director Joey Lauren Adams)

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Anyone interested in perusing some 2060 of my film reviews, dating back to 1994, can do so by simply going to RottenTomatoes.Com

Chlesea Handler on Ugly Balls

In an item he posted September 16th on his winning blog, "Reports from the Lost continent of Cinephilia," the ever-witty and ever-astute Dave Kehr noted that balls are the new breasts in America.

Commenting on the rather grotesque poster art for Billy Bob Thornton's "Mr. Woodcock, Dave wrote, "Presumably, emergency seminars are already being scheduled at Brown. And to think this was once a proud country of breast fetishists."

Ever since Dave voiced his observation, I've been aware of references to testicles everywhere, particularly on TV sitcoms, where they have become the token punchline for every bad, pathetic joke.

Which brings me to Chlesea Handler, the vivacious host of E!'s nightly "Chlesea Lately," a hilarious show brought to my attention by the New York Times' TV critic, Virginia Heffernan.

Anyway, Handler begins every show with a five-minute panel discussion and, on a recent show, she swapped jokes with Ken Baker, correspondent for US Weekly.com, comic Loni Love and porn icon Ron Jeremy. The name Cisco Adler came up, and Handler complained that Adler got his show on VH1 only because he once dated Mischa Barton.

But Baker set the record straight. Apparently, Adler is now a star in his own right because, according to Baker, he has "gigantic testicles."

This set off Handler, hilariously so:

"Is that such a huge draw for women? 'Oh, God, I have to get me some ball tonight!' (To the audience) Don't you agree that balls are disgusing? Nobody ever warns you about balls when you're in the third grade. They don't even tell you they're happening. You hear about the shaft of the penis coming your way. They don't mention that he has two little angry friends along for the ride. I would have liked a warning."

That just about says it all. And let's hope that Handler's witty tirade marks the start of a moritorium on testicles in American entertainment and the return of big breasts to their rightful place.

(Artwork: The poster art for "Mr. Woodcock" and E!'s very funny Chelsea Handler)

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Anyone interested in perusing some 2060 of my film reviews, dating back to 1994, can do so by simply going to RottenTomatoes.Com

critical quackery: David Denby on "West Side Story"

Film critic David Denby has the following to say about "West Side Story" in the September 17th edition of The New Yorker magazine:

"It is ironic that 'West Side Story,' a plea for ethnic tolerance by four Jewish liberals - Leonard Bernstein (composer), Stephen Sondheim (lyricist), Arthur Laurents (book) and Jerome Robbins (choreographer) - has now become difficult to revive in New York. Latinos have complained that its view of Puerto Ricans is stereotyped; producers have worried that its 'Cool, Daddy-O' slang new seems quaint. Yet the show, which opened fifty years ago, is a masterpiece of American musical theatre - perhaps the masterpiece. If the material is unfamiliar to you, skip the dreadful Oscar-winning movie version of 1961, with its embarrassing cast and hashed score and choreography. The original cast album, starring Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert, is ardent and heartbreaking, and Bernstein's own later recording makes a good case for the piece as an American opera. 'West Side Story' is now performed in prisons and gang-ridden neighborhoods, where it is used as therapy, and in summer-stock productions, where it leaps off the stage. It's time for a full-scale New York revival."

First, a question to Denby about this wildly gratuitous piece: Who asked you, anyway? (Can't the editors at The New Yorker simply say "no" when one of its writers comes up with a bad, pointless idea?)

Secondly, the stereotypes that litter this show/movie are the least of it.

Finally, I agree with him that the 1961 film version is pretty bad. It's been bad for years, hasn't aged well at all. But the problem is not the cast or the choreography (which, I hasten to remind Denby, is by Robbins himself).

No, the problem is that Ernest Lehman, who wrote the adaptation, was way to faithful to Laurents' arch stage script. The music and dancing are fine; everything in-between is an offense. The dialogue in WSS, whether on stage or on film, is really rough on the ears. Those producers who worry about all those dated "Daddy-Os" are correct. The only way to revive the show is to completely rewrite it.

An alternative, of course, would be to declare a moritorium on it. Put it in mothballs and let it rest in peace. Forget about it and move on.

P.S. That original cast album that Denby finds so "ardent and heartbreaking," actually sounds rather tinny compared to the film's soundtrack. Also, the original cast album doesn't "star" Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert. It features them (among others).

Feel free to disagree. And fee free to bark at me, Who asked you, anyway?

(Artwork: The poster from the original 1957 stage production of "West Side Story")

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Anyone interested in perusing some 2060 of my film reviews, dating back to 1994, can do so by simply going to RottenTomatoes.Com