12 replies to this topic

[Schroeder]

Did anyone catch the remake on TNT?

I finally watched the first one the night before I saw the remake, and despite a few updates, giving Garfield a cellphone, uping his off-off-Broadway pay from $240 a week to $600 a week, there really wasn't that much different to me. I know Simon updated his script to fit into the TV viewing, but I have to wonder what prompted him in the first place to do a remake.
I mean, the first one was good. Dreyfuss was great in it. The second was so much like the first one, even the apartment looked pretty much the same in layout.

Granted, I didn't sit down and watch both of them start to finish, every scene, but there just seemed to be on reason to make this remake.
Patricia Heaton was just, OK, I guess, and I saw absolutely nothing attractive at all about the Bridges guy.

And little Hallie Eisenberg just freaks me out.

Does anyone have anythoughts about this? This was the first time for me to see either movie. I've been a fan of the musical for years, since it hit Broadway in '93. But I'm not digging the movie so much.

[katymo]

They'll never get me to watch this just because of the heavy, heavy, heavy pimping. Not just on TNT itself, but at the movies and every other channel imaginable, its annoying! If I hear that damn Hootie song one more time I'm gonna shoot my TV, the way Patricia Heaton "poses" cracks me up every time.

[glitter5579]

I watched a little bit of the remake and Daniel's basically does an impression of Dreyfuss's protrayel of Elliot. That Haylie girl passed her cute level 4 years ago, now she just looks like a creepy mouse, I liked the original girl better.

All in all why remake something a la Psycho when the first one was fine the way it was?

[Rinaldo]

I never thought the first one was all that good -- Dreyfuss and Mason both irked me plenty. I actually can better endure the company of Daniels and Heaton, but there's no point unless they're gonna improve on something that was fairly mediocre to start with. (There's a lot of Neil Simon I like quite well -- just not this.)

[Munchiewoman]

I liked Patricia Heaton much more than Marsha "I only have a career because my husband writes things for me" Mason. I normally like Jeff Daniels, but the part is for a not that physically attractive but very charismatic person, and Dreyfuss was perfect for it. Daniels just didn't seem to fit the part.

Didn't Dreyfuss win the Oscar for that part?

[TudorQueen]

Yes, Dreyfuss won the Oscar, and until Adrian Brody won last year Dreyfuss held the record for youngest ever to win the Best Actor award...

[Schroeder]

He won it by only months, IIRC.

[failsafe]

Shut up Hootie. Shut up shut up shut up.

[Josette]

I'm rather fond of the original just because it was played quite a bit on late night TV where I live. It sort of grew on me.

I caught the remake. I thought Jeff Daniels was stealing mannerisms from Richard Dreyfuss. Dreyfuss was better, though I like Jeff Daniels. I preferred Quinn Cummings as the daughter.

I have no preference for either Marsha Mason or Patricia Heaton. I didn't need to see Patricia Heaton's cleavage so much, though.

[Miki The Brain]

Sorry for being a crazy tool- I must've just missed it and I swear I didn't get any by searching....hmph.

I only started a thread to snark at how awful Hallie Eisenberg was from the portion I watched. I adore the original, and this lacked the heart, but good lord. That child used to be "cute" (I didn't think so, but that didn't stop a lot of people from thinking so) but JEBUS! Puberty is not kind to this kid.... she needs to take a few years from show business until she grows into that horsey face. Sorry to snark a damned child, but she really isn't a great actress and the awkwardness of her appearance just made it worse....

[Gracelessly]

I just found this thread. I posted over at FT that this was painful to watch. All the performances were horrible. And the stupid thing was that they promoted the hell out of it with the Hootie version and they didn't even use it in the movie. WTF!