One of my favorite screenplays of all time is Daniel Waters’ Heathers, mainly because of its clever, yet not necessarily realistic dialogue. However, I’m not that into the work of Diablo Cody, whose writing style is often compared to and admittedly influenced by that earlier black comedy. Waters’ line “Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?” could easily fit in a Cody-penned film, as could “No one at Westerberg is going to let you play their reindeer games.” But most of the memorable, quotable Heathers lines are smarter. Aren’t they?
I often wonder if I would have had any appreciation for Heathers had I seen it as my older, more cynical self. Would I have dismissed the script the same way I now do the scripts for Junoand Jennifer’s Body? Or, is Codyspeak a lot more forced and cheesy than Waters’ writing? And is Waters more respectable for not following Heathers with continued attempts at similarly clever dialogue? Imagine Waters’ script for Batman Returnswith lines like “I’ve gotta motor, Alfred, if I want to catch the Penguin” and “What’s your damage, Catwoman?”
Okay, so Waters’ later scripts weren’t very good anyway, and it’d probably be pretty interesting to see a Cody-penned superhero movie (just as I was curious about Kevin Smith’s Superman script). But reviews for Cody’s latest are nowhere near as good as Juno’s were (and she’s certainly not going to win another Oscar for it), and part of the reason may be that people are no longer giving her goofy Codyspeak (or “diablologue”) a pass. In reviews, interviews and other posts, film bloggers are criticizing Cody’s words more than ever.
Check out some of these criticisms after the jump:
Robert Downey Jr has signed on to star as Tony Stark in Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, and The Avengers. This, plus his starring role in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, will put the Less Than Zero survivor in at least one summer tentpole per year through 2012. Say it with me: poor, poor Andrew McCarthy.
Mike Nichols will direct a David Mamet-scripted remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low. Martic Scorsese comissioned the script from Mamet; he’ll now executive produce.
In an unusual deal, Janus and sister company Criterion Collection have acquired theatrical and DVD rights to Revanche, the Austrian Foreign Language Oscar contender which premiered in Berlin and went on to Telluride. Janus, known for its library of classic art films, hasn’t handled a first-run theatrical release in 30 years.
David Mamet should always employ lowbrow comedic actors in dramatic roles. Think back to how great Steve Martin was in The Spanish Prisoner. Yes, Martin had done serious performances prior, but he was at the time coming off a long string of duds — most recent was Sgt. Bilko — and the film was a welcome change, at least for his fans if not himself, as he never seemed intent on repeating the variation again (too bad, because he could find Bill Murray-like success, in my opinion).
This time Mamet has cast Tim Allen, an actor barely thought to be employable in anything but mainstream, family-friendly comedy. Unlike Martin, he’s a guy who has never really been in the favor of critics (his Rotten Tomatoes average is 42% compared with Martin’s 64%, and he’s fortunate to have the Toy Storyboosters). Therefore, it will be interesting to see Allen appear in Mamet’s Redbelt, a fairly serious-looking drama set in the world of Ultimate Fighting (which, like Allen, could use a respectful filmmaker like Mamet in order to get more cred with the highbrows). He’s apparently only playing a Hollywood movie star, so he’s not being asked to stretch too far.
Another thing that will be interesting to see is how much Redbelt is actually like a Kurosawa film, considering such a comparison was made by Mamet last year. The film opens in select theaters April 25.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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One of my favorite screenplays of all time is Daniel Waters’ 
Robert Downey Jr has signed on to star as Tony Stark in Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, and The Avengers. This, plus his starring role in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, will put the Less Than Zero survivor in at least one summer tentpole per year through 2012. Say it with me: poor, poor Andrew McCarthy.
