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Christmas: Special Edition
The last few weeks have been real busy at work. Thankfully, I got a raise last week. All the insanity is worth the effort. Today, I bring you some DVD news along with my review of the script to Surviving Christmas. Keep reading this column in the coming days and you might see script reviews for two Marvel Comics projects. 'Nuff Said...
Surviving Christmas Script Review
Sometime it's the ones you don't want to read that are the best. The script to Surviving Christmas landed at my house three months ago. What I had heard about the project didn't really intrigue me. Ben Affleck was attached and Betty Thomas (Dr. Dolittle) almost directed it. One morning, out of boredom, I decided to give it a try. The first page hooked me and I read it completely within a few hours. The screenplay I read has no date on it and is credited to the team of Jeffrey Ventimilia and Joshua Sternin. Dreamworks picked up the project from turnaround last month. I'm guessing they will put it on the fast track.
The story starts hilariously enough with shots of people killing themselves during the Christmas season. Black humor at his best. Drew Latham (Ben Affleck) seems like the perfect Gen-X successful businessman. He's hosting the Christmas office party of the company he owns, Platinium Records. As the evening wears on, the guests start leaving. Drew remains alone and tries to hang himself in his office. He's stopped by a janitor and put in a mental institute. A doctor releases him immediately and mockingly tells him to find his 'happy place'. Turns out Drew's happy place is now the Valco household residence in suburban New-Jersey. He decides to visit his childhood home. The Valcos aren't too receptive to the idea of a houseguest. Drew finally finds a way to fix that problem. He rents The Valco family for Christmas. A quarter of a million dollars for recreating Drew's Christmas-related activities, treat him like a member of the family and providing him with the 'perfect' Christmas Day. To quote Tom Valco: 'Welcome Home Son.'
From the first page, I was hooked into this story. I had not laughed so hard reading a script in a longtime. The concept is so insane that it actually works. Who ever came up with the premise of the story is one funny writer. Would a family be so greedy that it would rent itself for a millionaire's Christmas? Maybe. The Valco household of course are the pandemonium of dysfunctional middle-class America. They are quite similar to the first family of television, the Simpsons. The plot sounds like something out of the minds of Simpsons writers, except it's rated R. This is quite a joy, because it opens the door to a ton of laughs. The script has very few flaws, my only real problem being the ending is a little too rushed but it does work. All that's missing is a talented cast to play these hilarious characters.
DREW
Sorry. It's just... Doo-Dah used to take us skating. Now it's like it may as well not even be Christmas. Hell, if I didn't want to ice skate, I would have rented you people on the Fourth of July. Now What?
Drew is one of the craziest lead roles that I have ever read. He's obviously a little nuts but his suicidal tendencies are played for laughs. You feel bad for the guy but you can't help laughing at his situation. He's a successful businessman with lots of cash but he wants to kill himself. Drew is kind of a bizarro-world version of George Bailey. The whole script reads like It's A Wonderful Life on crack. Ben Affleck is an interesting choice for Drew. I can see him wonderfully playing Drew. I have a better casting idea. Forget Ben Affleck! Get Jason Lee to play Drew Latham. He's the perfect choice to play this character. While reading the script, I could visualize Jason playing this character to perfection. Don't get me wrong, Ben is okay. But with Jason, this comedy could become the funniest American film of the last ten years. Dreamworks please give him a chance. He's the leading man in Stealing Harvard and A Guy Thing. He can carry this movie with his hands tied behind his back.
As for the supporting cast, there's a character for everyone. The Valco parents are hilarious. Brian, their son, is one perverted teenager obsessed with internet porn. His sister, Alicia, who becomes Drew's love interest, is hilarious. She's the only member of the Valco family who seems normal. Drew hires an actor to play Doo-Dah, the grandfather. You can imagine all the situations that setups. Add some good ole holiday fun and you've got one messed-up Christmas celebration.
All I'm waiting for is to see if Dreamworks will be able to set up this project fast. A definite comedic blockbuster when it hits theaters.
DVD Dream
I was late to jump on the DVD bandwagon. I only bought a player last year. In 7 months, my collection has gotten huge and it has become my new drug. I have 4 favorite movies of all-time: Casablanca, Speed, Jerry Maguire and The Matrix. I love the Casablanca DVD that Warner Brothers made. If you're a fan of the classic film, you need to buy it. I guess only a Criterion edition could make this even better. The Matrix had a killer DVD to begin with and last November we got The Matrix Revisited. I was one of those geeks who bought it in the early hours of the day it was released. The Matrix Revisited is a must-see documentary packed with insane goodies. Any fan of the Wachowskis flick needs to have his own copy of that DVD. A month ago, I heard something that put a smile on my face... A Jerry Maguire special edition DVD.
The two disc release is packed with goodies. Audio commentary by Cameron Crowe, Renee Zellwegger, Cuba Gooding jr and the man himself, Tom Cruise. I can't wait to hear what they've got to say. It should be hilarious and insightful. There's deleted scenes, the infamous Reebok promo featuring Cuba that was cut out and some making of featurettes. If it's as good as the Bootleg Untitled DVD, this one is gonna seriously rock. I have seen the movie over 35 times and this DVD is going to make me wanna watch it even more...
Two weeks ago, I discovered something even more incredible. Fox has been working on a Special Edition Speed DVD. Apparently it's being released only for Region 4 in May. I have looked around and it seems there's no street date for North America yet. The two discs are loaded with goodies. Where do I begin? It features a director's audio commentary, scene specific commentary, 5 featurettes, 5 extended scenes, image gallery, multi-angle sequences, multi-stream storyboards, cast and crew interviews, the really good 'Making of Speed' documentary, trailer and TV spots and some easter eggs. I'm drooling on the floor with excitement. I have seen Speed over 60 times and I can't wait to get this DVD. Fox, please give us a release date. I'm dying to know when it's coming out.
Join our Oscar Pool
I've been playing the Yahoo Oscar pool game for a few years now. Last year we had around 80 contestants in our pool. We're doing it again this year. All you need to do is follow this link.
Register if you're not a member already.
Join a Private group
Group ID: 3521
Password: tnmc
Good luck to everybody.
Stay tuned...
That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
