Hello again,
This is my first blog entry where I speak about a movie I didn’t actually see (and I don’t think I will ever see it). The reason is that the movie is a simple copy of an earlier French movie called “the dinner game”. I don’t’ know if you ever saw it but it’s basically the exact same story: executives bored with their lives that invite dumb people to have dinner just to laugh at them.
For those who saw “The dinner game” you will agree it was a huge success. Everybody will remember Jacques Villeret’s brilliant performance. Unfortunately, after reading the Sydney Morning Herald review about “Dinner for schmucks”(1), the author let ‘s us know it will be a waste of a time. This assumption is also sustained by its 6 out of 10 rating on imdb.com, one of the largest online movie review websites.
Concerning the SMH movie review, published on September 28, 2010 by Jim Schembri, the author starts explaining the universe of the movie. He describes what is a real schmuck and why you might like the actual story. If you are too lazy to read the entire article, just read the introduction, it’s really funny. Later on, Schembri informed us that the movie is a remake of Francis Veber French film The Dinner Game and “which this film totally fails to emulate.”(2) During the rest of the review, the author seems to be quite persistent of how bad the movie is. He uses strong words such as “Very strange” and “Very painful to watch”. (3)
To conclude, it is often said that the three secrets of a good movie is a good story, a good story and a good story but it seems that “Dinner for Schmucks” might be the exception to the rule…
Fred, what do you think about the other elements on the page, beside the written content? For example, do you think it's effective to have audience rating appear on the site? What about the comment section? Or about the quote panel on the left hand side giving a little snippet of the bigger review? Would love to hear your thoughts on these other elements (layout, design etc)!
ReplyDeleteI still can't believe they made a remake, the trailer just looked plain stupid!! I loved the original so don't think I'll ever see this one either. French movies should never be remade, the humour etc is just different. They don't translate well into Hollywood...I mean, imagine if they remade 'le placard' or any of Louis de Funes' movies like 'le grand restaurant'...
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