Barefoot

Believe me when I tell you that this remake has nothing on the original. Somehow they managed to suck all the charm out of a lovely story.

The original film is German and bears the same name (Barfuß). It was written and directed by Til Schweiger, who also plays the lead. Yes, you know him from Inglourious Basterds. The barefoot mental patient is played by Johanna Wokalek. The film - as it came out in 2005 - was fine the way it was and did not need an Americanization.

Rather than go into the details of the remake, let me just tell you about my biggest disappointment: Evan Rachel Wood or, rather the character she portrayed here. She plays Daisy as a ditsy blonde, hopping from one embarrassment to the next for - I'm guessing - cheap laughs. The character (of a different name) did get her fair share of laughs in the German film without trying so hard. Whereas then she was mentally ill, here she is just plain stupid, at times even crass - a far cry from the quiet sweetness and innocence that Johanna Wokalek brought to the same role.

This is the kind of film that makes me wish that American audiences finally got over their arrogance about foreign films and learned how to read subtitles. Their lives would be so much richer for it.

Oh so disappointing.

3/10

The Words

This is a story about a book about a book.

Let me explain:
Author Dennis Quaid wore a book about wannabe author Bradley Cooper who found a manuskript inside a leather bag his wife bought for him while on honeymoon in Paris. The manuskript is, of course, awesome. Bradley Cooper, not scheming or anything, types it into his computer (like you do). His wife Zoe Salander 'finds' it and tells him how wonderful it is.

It finally gets him an agent and success. The original author, Jeremy Irsons, one day walks into a bookstore and stumbles upon the book that he wrote. He follows Copper into Central Park one day to talk to him about the hi-jacked book. Or rather, he tells him his life story (the story in the book). Why? Not sure. It's not like he wants anything for it, it seems.

And Dennis Quaid reads all this to an audience that includes grad student Olivia Wilde, who is, like, totally intrigued by the tale and ends up in Quaid's apartment (of course). When he tells her the ending (Cooper comes clean to his wife and publisher, but they all keep mum and enjoy the money reaped fromt he stolen book), Wilde is for some reason unhappy with it, because that is not what she expected or wanted.

Whatever.

3/10