"I'm cynical about the studio's motivation. "
Their only motivation should be money.
APIAD wrote:
You are cynical of it because you seen the original, correct? Had you not seen or known there was an original I figure you wouldnt be offended and maybe even gratefully it was remade so that you had the chance to hear or see this product.
I'm cynical about the studio's motivation. The original is such a good movie there was no need to make another.
Knowing how loyal Sandler is to people with whom he's worked in the past, I'm guessing he and Burt Reynolds became friends at some point, and Sandler told him how much he liked the original, and Sandler wanted to pay homage to Reynolds by making an updated version and putting him in the Nate Scarborough role.
The suits, of course, loved the idea. A familiar storyline with bankable stars and supporting roles for every famous ex-athlete they could find. Box office gold.
The original worked because it was genuine. Ray Nitschke wasn't acting. He was just playing himself. Which made it funnier.
Reynolds played football at Florida State. I can't imagine Sandler lasting through one practice of major college football.
You are cynical of it because you seen the original, correct? Had you not seen or known there was an original I figure you wouldnt be offended and maybe even gratefully it was remade so that you had the chance to hear or see this product.
"Remakes are made because the story line is good and they want to reach new viewers."
Or the studio wants to make a zillion bucks without the bother of coming up with an original idea.
Sorry, AP. I've been cynical about movie re-makes and cover songs ever since I heard Joan Jett's version of "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap."
I never would never have knew the Longest Yard existed if it wasnt remade and I have never seen the original. Remakes are made because the story line is good and they want to reach new viewers.
Back to your question of why people make such a fuse over Sandler, I think it is just because of the lack actors who have put together a steady career.
I'd forgotten when I wrote the original post there was a movie he did with Don Cheadle a few years ago that was pretty good. I can't remember the title. It wasn't a comedy. It was dark. I think Sandler's character's wife died in the 9/11 attacks and Cheadle's character is a childhood friend who tries to help him. Of course, Don Cheadle is good in just about anything he does. He even pulls off his character in Ocean's Eleven, which considering the banality of the script was impossible.
The Waterboy was just silly. And there was no need to re-boot The Longest Yard. The original is great and should have been left alone. I don't think I've seen any of the other movies you've mentioned except for The Wedding Singer, which I didn't like mostly because I find Drew Barrymore repellent.
I like Grown Ups and several of his movies. Of course Happy Gilmore is a classic and Billy Madison isnt bad. Waterboy and The Wedding Singer are also classics. I thought Grown Ups was as good as Happy Gilmore. I liked his most recent movie, Just Go With It. Click and The Longest Yard were good as well and 51 First Dates was good for a chick flick.
I wouldnt call him a comic genius but he has roled out as many decent movies as any comidian over the last 10 years.
Happy Gilmore was kind of clever, and Billy Madison had a couple of laughs, but I've never understood why he's been annoited the comic genius of an entire generation. But that's OK. He never bothered me ... until this week.
Seems as though they're filming "Grown Ups 2" here in God's Little Acre, and the entire town is atwitter about the whole thing. Except me, I guess. There are four streets leading in and out of this lovely peninsula. One route runs with the coastline, so it's clogged anyway. Another route has been taken up by Sandler and his crew. They're for some reason building a set - rumor has it it's a ice cream stand - right off the street. So everyone has to stop and rubberneck. A third route is the one the tourists use because it's programmed on every GPS. So that's been shut down by everyone coming to town to try to see if they can see Adam Sandler and his gang.
Which leaves the locals with one way in. What's usually a 5-minute drive took a half-hour this afternoon. And that's on top of the usual 60-minute jaunt that it normally takes just to get to where the bottleneck was today.
I saw bits and pieces of the first Grown Ups during its ubiquitous run on one of the movie channel networks a couple of months ago. Does it strike anyone else as a flick that required a sequel?