Friday
04Jul2008
Hudson and McConaughey Commit 'Foul Play'
Friday, July 4, 2008 at 1:41PM 
Get ready for their third act.
WENN reports that
Kate Hudson
and
Matthew McConaughey
may reunite to remake the
comedy
Foul Play. Before we get to the elephant in the
room, let me say that Foul Play is one of the better breezy romantic
comedies of the 1970s, one of the few I'd even watch today, although I'm not
entirely sure it's worth the seven Golden Globe nominations it received in 1979.
I can totally believe McConaughey and Hudson stumbling
around San Francisco (always a great setting for a movie) trying to solve a
crime, he a substandard cop and she a librarian. The material was certainly fresh 30
years ago, so it would take some punching up now, but I'm not dreading the idea
based solely on its existence.
In fact, when Fool's Gold was released earlier this year, I said
that Kate and La Maravilla Descamisada - The Shirtless Wonder - work well together, despite
the mostly worthless material they choose:
"McConaughey and Hudson have a very natural chemistry, which is something to pursue, since even the best actors can struggle to master it, not that the stars of Fool’s Gold are often confused for our best actors. But there’s something in their work together – here and in the equally hokum How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days – that doesn’t exist when they’re on their own. Call it an instinctive familiarity, a safety net, whatever: You believe they could be a couple and just as easily buy into the reasons why they could be former flames."Good romantic comedy teams are hard to find. They're not as effective as Meg Ryan was with Billy Crystal and Tom Hanks, but again, that's mostly the writing coming out, because neither Crystal nor Hanks has made careers out of being romantic leading men. Oddly enough, that's the same writer - Nora Ephron. The point is, good writing + natural chemistry = better results. And it's been a while since we've had a tandem with the chemistry Hudson and McConaughey share. Now...here's the other thing: Kate Hudson's remaking her mom's movie. That's weird, isn't it? Oddly, it was the last Goldie Hawn movie released before Kate was born in 1979. Foul Play starred Goldie, Chevy Chase, and Dudley Moore, and this was actually the role that set Dudley Moore on to bigger roles in 10 and Arthur. The roles are certainly there and the setup is fine in Foul Play and if you have to watch Hudson and McConaughey, this is probably the right kind of venue. If they can find a way to make it smart and funny, this should be pretty solid. Of course, with Hudson and McConaughey, they've struggled for smart or funny, so the combination seems like it's light years away.
Reader Comments (1)
I like your analysis on this one. Foul Play is an entertaining movie-- good call (cool script from Harold and Maude writer Colin Higgins). Hmm, maybe Kate & Matthew are trying to follow in the footsteps of the Goldie Hawn/Chevy Chase pairing-- although my favorite movie with Hawn and Chase was definitely Seems Like Old Times but that was also helped by Charles Grodin, a screwball premise and of course, Neil Simon's writing. Re: chemistry & writing: Hmm, maybe we could get Nora Ephron to pen the new Foul Play?