Monday 20 August 2007
Monday
I wonder if you've ever wanted to watch Mean Girls? It appears, at first, as one of those teen comedies that you could do without in your life. Then, you read a review that says it actually is interesting - although the review was written by a middle-aged man, so you wonder about his intentions. But what's the truth? I'm afraid it has to be the former - you can do without this film in your life. It does, at times, try to rise above the average teen comedy by undercutting high school life, but only infrequently and never explicitly enough for you to feel that this is a satire, rather than a teen comedy (I think Clueless was better at that). A great line is 'I'm kinda psychic. I have a fifth sense. It's like I have ESPN or something', but this is a rare gem. The funny lines criticise certain people, rather than social tendencies, which you can always overlook, or like them for their weaknesses. Otherwise, you can also tell this is adapted from a book - the 'missing element', that lacking richness only a book can develop, is noticeable. Overall, it affirms the lifestyle it at times tries to criticise. Typically, in the end everyone is accepted and likes each other - which is the worst possible solution to the rather ordinary problem (new girl at school) it poses.
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4 comments:
Interestingly on the theme of films adapted from books and Bourne.
Doug Liman didn't allow the screenwriter of the first Bourne to read any of the books. Instead Liman wrote a 4 page treatment of the story of the book and gave it to the screenwriter to turn into a film. He has read the books for the subsiquent ones (presumably Greengrass didn't want to repeat the trick). But perhaps it was having this seperation in the first one which set things up nicely for the whole series? I mean after having written the script when he came to reading the second one he would have probably found himself saying, "yeah I'll cut that - my Bourne wouldn't do that".
Although his scripts seem to have been heavily re-written each time and major re-writers seem to oven have been excluded from the writing credit so something odd must have been going on - and yet the same person is credited on all three so something must have kept them going back to him. An interesting process of writing for those three films anyway.
That is interesting. And a very good way to eliminate the 'bookishness' of filsm adapted from books. That way it's written by a screenwriter with the idea alone. Probably a very good approach - but did Liman invent it?
I think Kubrick did it for... Something... I can't rememeber which. He too might not have been the first of course.
Lindsay Lohan did have great pins though.
Yes, yes, getting my coat.
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