June 5, 2021

Good morning! My back hurts. 

I got another review back from the Black List. It's a seven, which is a good score but not a do-something-for-me score. My friend's advice was to look at all this as gathering information. The more feedback the better. Which is the right way to see it. I should be looking to use this information to improve, both this current script and future scripts. But I want to be ushered into the business now.  

This morning I was thinking about when I was in Colorado and played pickle ball with my parents. We went to an elementary school gym after hours, and they had warned me about one of the women they played with. They said she had a lot of personality. (Is that what they said?) She trash talked and was mostly kidding, but you could see why she tended to lose friends. When we got there and started playing, sure enough she was trying to wind people up. But she also did goofy dances and wasn't above making fun of herself. It was easy to join in, and I think I won her over pretty hard. After we were done playing, she made some joke -- or asked me or something -- about anime porn. I joked back with her, only a little horrified that she was talking like that in front of my parents. I think my folks are a little afraid of her. I'm thinking about it this morning because it was an instance where my parents got to see me in a different mode. In a more edgy, goofy way. I think my parents were surprised to see that I was able to hang with someone like that. It made me think about how I have grown to be able to, that it wasn't always the case. It makes me feel good, a little victorious. 

Self-indulgence central over here. I know. 

Mlog time! 

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS 

1988

Directed by: Frank Oz

Written by: Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning 

Watched: 6/4/21

Lawrence is the gentile European big-time con man while Freddy is the younger, louder, crasser, American con man who’s infringing on Lawrence’s territory. Lawrence tries to get Freddy out of town, eventually even training him and not paying him, but to no avail. So the two men make a bet, whoever gets $50,000 out of an agreed upon rich woman gets to stay in town. The other has to leave. They pick Janet Colgate, “the soap queen.” Lawrence starts at her using his usual broke and noble prince routine, but Freddy comes crashing in pretending to be a naval officer who has lost the use of his legs for psychological reasons. After getting $2000 from her to help fund his grandmother’s operation (his usual routine), he starts to work on her about the $50,000 needed for psychological treatment by a famous doctor. He’s nearly won when Lawrence swoops in pretending to be the doctor in question. Lawrence finds out that Janet isn’t actually rich or corrupt so he tries to call off the bet. But the two men agree that if Freddy can get her into bed then he’s won. Janet comes to Lawrence the next day in deep distress – Freddy slept with her and then took all her money, including the $50,000 that had come in for the doctor’s fee. Lawrence pays her back the money and puts her on a plane. Freddy arrives as the plane is taking off. He didn’t steal her money or sleep with her. She actually stole all his money and his clothes. It turns out she’s “the jackal,” a con artist reported in the area, and she’s played them both. She returns later in a different character, leading a tour of rich people. She tells the men, “I made $3 million dollars last year, but your $50,000 was the most fun.” They’re going to run a con together. 

Okay, so when they say The Hustle is a remake of this movie they really mean it. There are some of the exact lines of dialogue. The same twists. Even the same shots. It’s bewildering. And mostly the jokes come through more clearly in this movie. For example, Lawrence loses early ground with Janet because instead of losing all his money at the roulette wheel, he keeps winning. He reflects with his sidekick later that it was a string of very bad luck as he’s turning in his chips for a big wad of cash. That was my favorite part – because of course normally him winning that money would be the definition of luck, but in this case not. In The Hustle this wasn’t clear to me because 1) I didn’t realize Anne Hathaway was trying her regular scheme. In DRS, we see Lawrence do his standard royal act twice (at least). So I didn’t realize Hathaway was counting on losing – I’m not sure she even was. And I don’t think there is the scene where she’s cashing out saying how unlucky she was. I think she even comments something like, “at least I won all this cash” which is funny, but not nearly as funny. 

I also think this movie benefitted from Lawrence being a more convincing fancy person. It’s Michael Cain after all. While Anne Hathaway is playing a ridiculous fancy person. Both she and Rebel Wilson are big and over the top, which was delightful, but didn’t have the same tension/conflict as Michael Cain and Steve Martin. Michael Cain was much more of a convincing straight man, and got the laughs in a more down-played way. 

This movie is a remake of Bedtime Story (1964). I wonder if it’s line for line, shot for shot, as well. Weird. 

Rating: ★★★