On the Big Board |
Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
50/166 |
David Mumpower |
Much better than early reviews would have you believe. It's also much more accessible to mainstream audiences than one might expect given its pedigree. Would work just as well without the tie-in to T |
Methinks someone has been taking The Player a bit too seriously. The film’s masterful introductory tracking shot includes fly-on-the-wall overheard conversations among studio suits. The lampoon takes issue with the absurdity of many projects receiving greenlights. The point is driven home by a planned sequel to The Graduate where the audience will discover Mrs. Robinson has been confined to a wheelchair. A quizzical “Will it be funny?” is met with a resounding “It will be funny.” reply. The satire punctuates how preposterous most Hollywood sequel discussions are. As funny as the bit is, though, we should all probably stop laughing now.
There is going to be a sequel to The Graduate.
Well, sort of.
Ted Griffin, the talented scribe responsible for the remake of Ocean’s 11 and its upcoming sequel, Ocean’s 12, has come up with a way to mine the concept for comedic value. He has spun the formula on its ear by creating a “What If?” scenario. The follow-up story is centered upon a young woman played by favorite Friend Jennifer Aniston who stumbles across a surprising factoid about her family: they were the inspiration for the movie The Graduate. The betrothed lady puts her upcoming marriage to hunky Mark Ruffalo on hold long enough to investigate this shocking revelation. She eventually comes to discover that the woman who was the muse for the legendary Anne Bancroft character, Mrs. Robinson, is none other than her grandmother (played by ever-nutty Shirley MacLaine).
Along the way, the woman begins to encounter a series of similarly amazing events as occurred in The Graduate. After getting cold feet about the wedding, she has a romantic fling with an older tycoon. The character as played by Kevin Costner is being described as the male equivalent of Mrs. Robinson. The logical inference is that Aniston’s character is a female version of Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock, but that’s unconfirmed speculation at this point.
All of this sounds strange and overly ambitious, but Ted Griffin has earned the benefit of the doubt from BOP. He’s one of the best scribes in the industry today. And the cast named thus far is pretty damned impressive. (David Mumpower/BOP)
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