Good movie ideas that were completely screwed up

[nelsonmuntz]

I watched Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates last night. This movie should have been the Hangover for Millenials, and instead is a sloppy mess of a movie with two solid SNL skits dropped into the middle to save it from being a complete disaster.

The premise of the brothers being out of control, looking for wedding dates online and finding two degenerate girls pretending to be good is really funny. There are two A list stars in Efron and Kendrick, with solid supporting names in Devine and Plaza. The supporting cast, Sam Richardson, Kumil Nanjiani, Allice Wetterlund, Stephen Root, is pretty good for the most part.

The massage scene and ATV trip are very funny. There are a few clever lines of dialogue in the rest of the movie but otherwise it is dead air. Efron underacts and Devine overacts the whole movie. I am not clear what to make of Kendrick's character, and Plaza's character is so unlikable that the plot would have made more sense if Devine's character told her to buzz off at the end of the movie. This is the kind of movie where you get to the end and wonder why it wasn't a lot better.

Any others?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Sucker Punch may be the gold standard for this. The trailer was amazing, but the obvious problem with the movie is that it got Zach Snydered. This movie went so far off the rails that the scene near the end with young women in lingerie fighting WW I German zombie-soldiers was the highlight.

 

[Fishy]

Two this past year - Ghostbusters and the Superman/Batman disaster.

Someone had to actively screw those two movies up and by God, they managed it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Sucker Punch may be the gold standard for this. The trailer was amazing, but the obvious problem with the movie is that it got Zach Snydered. This movie went so far off the rails that the scene near the end with young women in lingerie fighting WW I German zombie-soldiers was the highlight.

That was a catastrophe.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I agree with Fishy on his two. I'll add Snow White & The Huntsman, and it's sequel. Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth, plus a generally appealing concept. Atrocious writing and directing doom these.

 

[Husky25]

Two this past year - Ghostbusters and the Superman/Batman disaster.

Someone had to actively screw those two movies up and by God, they managed it.

The OP asked for ideas for movies that were completely screwed up. There is no universe (real or alternative) in which remaking Ghostbusters, whether changing gender rolls or not, was a good idea. Especially after Harold Ramis passed.

Same goes with remaking Red Dawn and Point Break, but for different reasons.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The OP asked for ideas for movies that were completely screwed up. There is no universe (real or alternative) in which remaking Ghostbusters, whether changing gender rolls or not, was a good idea. Especially after Harold Ramis passed.

Same goes with remaking Red Dawn and Point Break, but for different reasons.

Fair enough. But Superman vs Batman should have been huge and was a complete mess.

 

[storrsroars]

As a long time apologist for Hudson Hawk, generally speaking HH has more intelligent dialogue, a more coherent plot and better acting than 80% of the action or comedy blockbusters from the past two years. It's time to give Hudson Hawk the credit it deserves. The movie was obviously simply 15 years ahead of its time.

 

[Deepster]

I'm gonna say Heat. Made in 1995, that was at a time when Deniro was coming off Casino (95) and Goodfellas (90). Pacino was coming off Carlito's Way (93) and Scent of a Woman and Glengarry Glen Ross (92). It fell completely flat for me. Almost 3 hours long, I was really excited to see this one and was really let down.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I'm gonna say Heat. Made in 1995, that was at a time when Deniro was coming off Casino (95) and Goodfellas (90). Pacino was coming off Carlito's Way (93) and Scent of a Woman and Glengarry Glen Ross (92). It fell completely flat for me. Almost 3 hours long, I was really excited to see this one and was really let down.

I like Heat, although I also thought it was just a touch too long.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Casting issues:

Godfather III - If any of the other candidates (Winona, Madonna, Julia Roberts) for Michael's daughter had taken the role, this movie would be considered one of the best ever. Sofia Coppola was so freaking awful that she took down a great movie all by herself.

Anything with Nicholas Cage - name a movie with Nicholas Cage, and I can name an actor that would have probably taken the part and made the movie better.

Mr. Brooks - Dane Cook sucks in everything he is in.

 

[storrsroars]

Casting issues:

Anything with Nicholas Cage - name a movie with Nicholas Cage, and I can name an actor that would have probably taken the part and made the movie better.

Raising Arizona.

You got nothing for that one.

Mr. Brooks - Dane Cook sucks in everything he is in.

Given Cook's character was a complete , it actually was casting to type. You could say Demi Moore was poorly cast as well. All the best scenes in that flick were between Costner and Hurt.

 

[Husky25]

Speaking of Part III...The Last Don - Made for TV miniseries based on another Mario Puzo novel, but at least half of it was either 1) miscast or 2) misdirected. It comes off as a horrible satire of The Godfather.

Incidentally, Joe Mantegna was not impressive in The Godfather, Part III either.

 

[Husky25]

Raising Arizona.

You got nothing for that one.

You were expecting something?

 

[billythekid]

I took a day off work to see opening day of Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes. The original was one of my favorite movies as a kid and I had high expectations for the remake. What a stinker.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

aliens vs predator, Sin City 2,

 

[G0UCONN]

I'm gonna say Heat. Made in 1995, that was at a time when Deniro was coming off Casino (95) and Goodfellas (90). Pacino was coming off Carlito's Way (93) and Scent of a Woman and Glengarry Glen Ross (92). It fell completely flat for me. Almost 3 hours long, I was really excited to see this one and was really let down.

I thought that the first time I saw it. But have seen again and am a fan. It is a bit long but it is good. Gotten better over time for some reason.....

PS The Contrived diner scene with Pacino and Deniro was painful. As was Pacino in parts as he seemed to overact for many scenes.

 

[G0UCONN]

Wyatt Earp with Kevin Costner.

It sucked.

Also hurt by excellent Tombstone that had been released soon before it.

 

[CTMike]

The Matrix 2 and 3...awful. A lot that could have been explored based on the original movie was just wasted. These should have been great.

 

[Excalibur]

Hancock -- Interesting concept (the superhero burnout), really lousy execution.

 

[Mano]

I'm gonna say Heat. Made in 1995, that was at a time when Deniro was coming off Casino (95) and Goodfellas (90). Pacino was coming off Carlito's Way (93) and Scent of a Woman and Glengarry Glen Ross (92). It fell completely flat for me. Almost 3 hours long, I was really excited to see this one and was really let down.

Golly, one of my favorite movies of all time. Michael Mann is at times amazing, and this is his pinnacle. I don't mind when movies take the time to breathe. I will agree with GOUCONN that Pacino really tried to chew the scenery a few times though.

 

[Husky25]

PS The Contrived diner scene with Pacino and Deniro was painful. As was Pacino in parts as he seemed to overact for many scenes.

Heat is is pretty much a big budget Hollywood remake of LA Takedown, a made-for-TV movie written and directed by Michael Mann. The "contrived" diner scene was lift from his own movie, almost word for word.

Pacino overacted because his character had a coke habit in early drafts. The storyline was glossed over because it makes the Hanna character less sympathetic.

 

[Deepster]

Golly, one of my favorite movies of all time. Michael Mann is at times amazing, and this is his pinnacle. I don't mind when movies take the time to breathe. I will agree with GOUCONN that Pacino really tried to chew the scenery a few times though.

I guess that, with the movies those guys had recently made, I just expected more. I don't know many (any) people who recommend it as a "great movie" or mention it up there with even the best movies of that timeframe. That period was the absolute prime for Pacino and Deniro.

 

[Dogdeacon]

This is probably too literary, but The Great Gatsby should be a simple, easy story about American ambition, aspiration and disillusionment that is easy to tell in very simplistic terms. Legend has it that the 1974 version with Redford had a great script written by Francis Ford Coppolla straight off the Godfather, but the director ignored it and went with a different tact (Gatsby as more crass than aspirational) and it unwound into too much of a love story. The remake with DiCaprio and Maguire got those two cast right, but the rest was total abomination. The wealth, parties, love triangles were all a mechanism for a tale about ambition, longing & disillusionment of American dream. I guess unrealistic to expect Hollywood to downplay glamour and salacious details.

Saw Great Expectations remake with Ethan Hawke for first time recently and that was also unmitigated disaster. Why anyone thinks embellishing a great work of literature is a good idea is beyond vanity.

I guess the story within the story of the two movies is the directors/producers kind of lived/embody the examples from the original stories in a nice twist of irony.

Here's something completely different! Any notion that Batman vs Superman should be good is endlessly amusing to me. I would only see it in double feature with Bambi vs Godzilla.

 

[Excalibur]

Saw Great Expectations remake with Ethan Hawke for first time recently and that was also unmitigated disaster. Why anyone thinks embellishing a great work of literature is a good idea is beyond vanity.

It is very rarely done effectively. The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) is the only example I can think of off the top of my head. Les Miserables doesn't count, as the movie itself was not the adaptation. There have been decent adaptations of A Christmas Carol. The list of adaptations that failed miserably is long (at least in modern film-making) -- Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, Sense and Sensibility, The Man in the Iron Mask . . .