Guess Who (2005)
The plot isn’t a direct copy of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, preferring to take the gist of the concept and a few of the story beats and surround them with a bunch of Funny Situations. I won’t bother you with details; suffice to say, the film does manage the odd laugh or smile. The ending is suitably lovey-dovey, sentimental, and, I think many would add, hogwash.
Insomnia (1997)
Watching this Norwegian original after having seen Christopher Nolan’s American version, it feels like someone watched the remake then was asked to retell it: it hits most of the main plot beats and memorable sequences, but seems to gloss past the nuances and character.
Pale Rider (1985)
Pale Rider is, in many ways, a pretty stock Western. The plot is likely to be familiar even to those who haven’t seen a great deal of the genre: in rides a mysterious stranger, sees injustice, climactic shoot-out, mysterious stranger rides into the sunset/from whence he came/forever on. Eastwood offers only one significant addition to this concept. The mysterious stranger is, on the one hand, a preacher — “surely a man of God is opposed to violence?”, etc. And on the other, is he even human?
More next Sunday.
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