Fo this week’s lineup I decided to go with comedy remakes. Preferably modern remakes of older and dated films.
When I first hear that someone had done a remake of the Marx Brothers ‘ A Night at the Opera my curiosity was so piqued I just had to watch Brain Donors no matter what I was getting myself into.
Happily it did not dissipoint. Yes it was stupid but it’s a remake of a Marx Brothers film it’s supposed to be stupidl. Everyone played their parts extremely well especially John Turturro in the Groucho role as a literal ambulance chaser (seriously he’s chasing them on foot) with , Mel Smith, and Bob Nelson in the Chico and Harpo roles. (Good enough that I kept getting surprised whenever I heard Nelson talk.
The only real problem I had with this film is no matter how good our replacement trio were they were not the well oiled machine that the Marx Brothers had created over many years. The other problem I had was the film had it’s foot a little too far in the real world so despite all of the zaniness it didn’t capture the surreal theatrical quality of the original film.
But this is all nitpicking, i had fun.
The next on the list, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, I didn’t even know was a remake when it first came out. (And from what I’ve heard The Bedtime Story with David Niven and Marlon Brando wasn’t quite as forgettable as I heard so might have to check it out later)
Michael Caine plays a dapper conman based in the French Riviera who’s life of comfort when Steve Martin playing a small time american conman comes and messes with his turf. In an attempt to get rid of the other they make a bet to see who can take someone for fifty thousand dollars first. what happens next is a hilarious duel of double crosses.
I’m ashamed to say that while this was a perfectly well done film and Caine and Martin had great chemistry it didn’t really click for me but I’m certainly sure plenty of people will like it more than me.
