Issa Rae to write and star in remake of Perfect Strangers (the Italian film, not the sitcom)
Aux Features Film
Put away your references to the wacky adventures of Larry and Balki, because this story has absolutely nothing to do with the classic ABC sitcom Perfect Strangers. Instead, we’re here to talk about Perfect Strangers—or Perfetti Sconosciuti—an award-winning Italian comedy-drama by Paolo Genovese (again, not the ABC sitcom with Balki). According to Deadline, Issa Rae has signed on to write and star in an English remake of the film, which is about a group of friends who decide to play a “risky game” that involves leaving all of their phones on a table and letting each other look through their calls and text messages “in an attempt to prove they have nothing to hide.” That makes it sound like a setup for one of those “everyone reveals their dark secrets” stories, but Deadline says it’s more of a “comedy about friendship, love, and betrayal,” so maybe it’s more fun than it seems?
The Deadline story doesn’t name any other potential stars, but the original had a pretty big cast of friends, so this could be a big movie for other cool young actor people. Is Bronson Pinchot still considered cool and young? Because… he was the guy from the show. That’s the last time, no more references!
24 Comments
“Put away your references to the wacky adventures of Larry and Balki, because this story has absolutely nothing to do with the classic ABC sitcom Perfect Strangers.”
Well, I was briefly interested, then I wasn’t.
This is ridiculous!
and we specifically asked them not to be!
AGAIN? there are 4 versions of this movie already c’mon….
too bad Mark Linn-Baker got rapturedIssa Rae seems cool but I could never get over that the show was called “insecure” and she was the most self-assured person on televisionthen again, that naming came around the same time as a lot of the terrible HBO-named shows, “Divorce” being the worst.
“and she was the most self-assured person on television”It’s like you are watching a whole different show from the one I’ve been watching.
it’s like watching brad pitt play ugly
lol Wow disagree. That whole arc where she was chasing after light-skinned dude when he disappeared, and when she gave up on her idea of doing the street festival, and all the times she didn’t speak up at work when she wanted to. We were watching two different shows.
the person not the character
But…but the show is about the character, not the person. The title is about the character. That’s like saying you can’t get over the fact that Grey’s Anatomy is called Grey’s Anatomy when the actor’s real name isn’t Grey.
No, dummy, I am saying that I had trouble watching the show because the person playing the character who is supposed to be insecure is herself very obviously not insecure, quite the opposite, so I couldn’t buy it.I don’t know why I am letting you suck my life away with this idiocy, but think about an example: John Hawkes is always too damn sure of himself. He’s a great actor, but whenever he’s supposed to look in doubt, I just don’t buy it (which is, I will note, not the same as when he is concerned for the welfare of other people, like whether Trixie was gonna get killed). It’s not even that he’s cocky like Tobey Maguire, he’s just too self-assured, and with a lot of good reason, but it hampers his acting. On the other hand, watch Leo DiCaprio in The Departed and Once Upon a Time, he manages to really appear desperate, pathetic, frightened, and for somebody like him that’s some pretty solid acting. (I overall think Hawkes is a better actor, not that Leo is a slouch, but this is a point of difference.)
lol Yes, I’m definitely the dummy in this conversation.There are plenty of other people on this site who don’t resort to 3rd grade namecalling when someone disagrees with them, so I’ll go talk to them instead. Ciao.
yes, plague them, afflict them with your incisiveness
You ALMOST had me.
I was so ready to do the Dance of Joy.
Standin’ TAAAAAAAAA—*reads rest of headline*Oh. Never mind.
literal lol
So this isn’t based on something I vaguely remember from my childhood? Why even bother then?
Get out of the city! (laughter)
Sigh. Another year without updates about the Bartokomous family. I’m especially concerned about how Mypos is doing after the 2008 Economic Meltdown.
At first I was disappointed, but then I thought more about the implications if it was a reboot of the sitcom and, yup, this is definitely a better choice. (Although if they could find a non-racist way to do it, I would watch the hell out of it.)
You briefly gave me the possibility of a world where Issa Rae would play a rebooted Cousin Balki and then cruelly took it away. How could you, AV Club?