Saturday, June 18, 2005

Ya Got Trouble, Right Here in Paradise

Variety mentioned the other day, in an article on screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers), that they are currently writing a remake of Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise for director Cameron Crowe. There have been a lot of rumors for the last few years that a remake was in the works, but this is the first time I've heard of a director being attached.

Since Trouble in Paradise is one of my favorite movies of all time, you might expect me to lament the news that Hollywood is remaking yet another movie that can't possibly be improved upon. But actually, I'm hoping the remake gets made, and I wish it well. Why? Because nobody is making good romantic comedies anymore, and most romantic comedies today have anything interesting emptied out of them at the script stage. At least a remake of Trouble in Paradise will be a rom-com that starts with a story that is not inherently stupid.

Of course, a remake of The Shop Around the Corner also starts with a good story, and we saw how the last remake turned out. But that's due to Nora Ephron being Satan.

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