I'm going to depart from my customarily bleak view of American culture and the cumulative IQ of the American public and suggest that as pop culturally brain dead as the American public may be, an intelligent film version of a story would be much more enjoyed by them than a copycat piece of crap.
Making this assumption is not done easily. For example, I recently received a CD and press release asking me to review a new singer; the press release had a breakout quote across the top of the page with a ringing endorsement from Perez Hilton. Are there those among us who are actually influenced by the taste of Perez Hilton? Heaven help us if that's the case.
I immediately smashed the CD and ripped the press release into tiny little shreds and then set them on fire. If Perez Hilton loves this, it must be fecal matter and if the singer and her handler think Perez Hilton is an "expert" on anything other than utter trash, that's a career that deserves to end before it begins.
And then of course, there are the millions of Americans who believe that dinosaurs co-existed with man shortly after the earth was created, some 6,000 years ago.
But what came first? The chicken or the egg? Did Hollywood and politics makes us stupid or are Hollywood and our political parties delivering products that are dumbed down enough for a population that thinks its own drool is a source of fresh water?
Chuck & Larry makes for an excellent test case. Chicken or the egg? Did Adam Sandler blatantly rip off and destroy a reasonably clever and funny Australian film, Strange Bedfellows, robbing Americans of the opportunity to think and learn as well as be entertained or was it and is it always necessary to take an intelligent product produced in great film-making nations like Australia, England, France, Japan and Germany and convert it into a pile of steaming American shit because we, as a people, are barely literate idiots? Are we incapable of understanding humor above the level of an eight year old? Is wit and subtlety as alien to the American mind as ancient Sanskrit? Clearly Hollywood and Washington believe this to be so.
And as for Adam Sandler, the answer to all of the above is a resounding "fuckin' A".
It's likely that most you don't know that 2006 Chuck & Larry is a point by point rip off of a 2004 Australian film, Strange Bedfellows, starring Australian icon and superstar, Paul Hogan. Some of the Chuck & Larry reviewers made passing reference to this fact. But scrambled eggs for brains, Adam Sandler denied that he copied the Australian film (which he got away with because if ain't made here, it simply doesn't exist.) And the film he denies copying...hmmm...let's see. Two straight men fake a gay marriage in order to benefit from a new tax law. These two men have been close buddies for life. They belong to a fire company. They get caught but because of a noble and heart-rending speech are forgiven by the authorities. I could go on, but why bother. On top of being a leading purveyor of bad taste and offensive stereotypes, Adam Sandler is a Pinocchio.
Strange Bedfellows is not a great film, but it's good fun and successfully delivers an interesting, occasionally witty and meaningful story that manages to make it through to the end without insulting the gay community, without resorting to rude gay stereotypes and with a meaningful and touching ending that actually makes sense. It relies on something that is of no interest to Mr. Sandler, credibility and authenticity.
And we're still left with the big question. Why are we so disdainful of foreign cinema that we keep producing awful, superficial remakes? The worst part is that our friends and neighbors around the world can simply compare A to B and easily conclude that we are a nation of idiots and not just a government of idiots.
Your last sentence.. I believe it to be true. Although I can see a little more than just that. In fact I wouldn't doubt a government so powerful and so strong that it controls the media, the advertising and even the schools we choose to grow up/learn in. I think it depends on where you grow up and who influences you when your a child.
Perez hilton is trash, and trash on his best day. I hate the fact that he is in the public eye, rags on celebrities like his opinion is worth the weight in gold and makes a bad stereotype for us Gays. Fuck Him, I just want to punch him in the balls so hard next time he goes to masturbate he thinks about his actions. Oh I could do it with a smile too! :D
Richard any person that is a fan of films will know that Foreign films are [classy] more about the characters, the words and the meaning. Whereas American films only care about who is in it and who is directing it. Sad but true.
Nice Blog - Mate!
Posted by: Andrew | Thursday, 01 November 2007 at 09:17 AM
Amen brother Rothstein.
Government promotes the creation of idiots in order to be held unaccountable by a stupid, uninformed public. Sadly this also describes the news media.
Although I did get a good laugh from Jay Leno, a rarity for me, when he said they were making a sequel to Brokeback Mountain called Oklahomo.
Posted by: Alan down in Florida | Thursday, 01 November 2007 at 11:44 AM