WARNING! I am going to be spoiling the movies Last Christmas and Just Wright. But, on the other hand, not really spoiling them because they are delightfully predictable and pleasant as all rom-coms should be. It’s about the journey, not the destination.
Last Christmas
Latifah is a kind hardworking woman who never does anything for herself. She lives alone in her family home now that her Mom is dead, she loves to cook but she always makes elaborate meals and then gives them to the neighbor while she eats sad diet food. And there is a guy at work who she likes and who is really nice to her, but she is too shy to take another step. And then she gets a call from her doctor saying she only has months to live.
Adventure Time! Latifah breaks her savings account and takes all the money to pay for a trip to a remote luxury hotel so she can enjoy the famous Christmas dinner served by her favorite celebrity chef. Everyone at the hotel things she is some mysterious millionaire, the staff loves her because she is so nice to them, and meanwhile back home the guy she likes finds out she is dying and HE LIKES HER BACK!!!! So he quits his job and follows her to the luxury hotel so he can confess his love before it is too late. And then, of course, it turns out that the doctor made a mistake and she WILL live, and she and the guy she likes go home and start a restaurant.
SUCH a great movie, right? I say, we recast with Vidya and some really cute dude. Ali Fazal maybe? And the famous chef/mentor can be Boman Irani maybe? NO! Naseeruddin Shah!!! We can set the whole thing at a heritage hotel that is in danger of being sold, but Vidya changes the evil rich owner until he understands the value of the people who work there and decides not to sell. Who should the evil rich owner be? OH! That can be Boman Irani!
Just Wright
Thank you Filmikudhi for reminding me of this movie! SO CUTE!!! And just begging for a remake.
Our heroine Latifah is a quiet kind physical therapist whose best friend since childhood is this stunningly beautiful woman. Our heroine had a loving family and stuff and her friend never had that security, so she doesn’t resent her or anything, but their dynamic is that she is beautiful and gets what she wants and our heroine is just quietly loving.
Latifah bumps into a star basketball player at a gas station and wows him with her knowledge of basketball. He likes her and invites her to his birthday party, she brings her beautiful friend along, and of course the friend goes after the basketball player HARD. After a whirlwind romance, the get engaged. But then he gets injured on the court. The beautiful friend hires Latifah to be his physical therapist, because she is so jealous and only trusts Latifah. But he is depressed and refuses to work on therapy, and finally the friend leaves him. Latifah offers to stay and keep working with him if he gets serious about it. She cures him, and also they fall in love. And then the friend comes back. She is sincere now, explains that she has been in therapy, worked through her issues, wants to start fresh, and really loves him. Latifah sadly leaves.
BIG ENDING. The basketball player gives a TV interview crediting Latifah for his miracle comeback. She is now being headhunted by sports teams. At the same time, her friend sees the interview and realizes the basketball player is in love with Latifah. She turns into a good friend and breaks the engagement and tells him to go after Latifah. Big dramatic declaration of love!!!! A year later, friends are united, Latifah and basketball player are married.
I am VERY EXCITED about this remake. Gotta be cricket, obviously. And I know everyone is too old, but I want this to be a Shahrukh-Rani-Kareena movie. Right???? Kareena is all pretty and a model and dreaming of being a rich wife. Rani is all supportive and hardworking. And then stuff happens and Latifah and Shahrukh find love and Kareena finds real friendship and meaning.
dontcallitbollywood 
Is Just Wright basically Mujhse Dosti Karoge? Should we also remake MDK with Queen Latifah?
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Yes! To both!
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I haven’t seen the movies but if Just Wright is MDH then just put Hrithik as the player and have the original trio. Were you thinking of Bobby Jasoos when going with Vidya and Ali because I approve!
Regarding remakes, as I’m watching more of the classic Hollywood films, I keep thinking nearly all of them can be remade in India. I know some have been remade. I also think in general they have influenced many themes and tropes seen in Hindi films till at least the 90s like rich heiress clashing with working class hero, some kind of con being pulled, etc.
Have you had instances where you like a remake more than the original? I, for example, will always prefer watching Dil Hai ki Manta Nahin over It Happened One Night. I enjoy the original just fine, but maybe because I saw the remake first, or the songs, or just for the cuteness of Pooja-Aamir, I like the remake better.
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First thing that comes to mind, and I know this isn’t exactly what you were thinking of, but Overboard the Goldie Hawn movie. The basic storyline comes from a JM Barrie play, which was turned into a 1920s silent movie, and then a 1930s movie with Bing Crosby (of all people!) and then Swept Away, the really weird European version, and finally Overboard. Yacht, rich lady, learns a lesson and becomes a servant of her former servant. It’s a tricky story to handle, the Bing Crosby version made it just kind of silly, all the other versions made it weird and misogynistic, but I think Overboard really nailed the vibe of crazy rich lady and decent working man thrown together.
Also, I have to know, what other classic Hollywood films are you watching????
On Sun, Aug 29, 2021 at 7:35 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Speaking of Overboard, have either of you seen the Hindi remake with Salman and Neelam — Ek Ladka Ek Ladki?
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No! Is it cute or irritating or just 90s?
On Mon, Aug 30, 2021 at 8:36 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I would say 90s. The premise is masochistic in all the version s above but I think what sets the Goldie Hawn-Kurt Russel performance and to a large extent this one apart is the earnest performances. It follows Overboard pretty closely! So if you liked that version, you would like this.
Obviously, IMO it’s not better than Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, which you should watch! It’s soo good!
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As I’m going through the films in my mind, I realize it’s going to be a list so I’ll answer later lol!
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I’ve heard of but not seen Overboard and had no idea about the Salman film! Now I want to see both.
Yaaay for Dil Hai..! It’s not just me then – it really is so good and cute! I didn’t know Margaret has not seen it, you should rectify that immediately!
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So the ones I watched over the last couple of months, going by actors:
Cary Grant – Hot Saturday, Born to be Bad, Only Angels Have Wings, Talk of the Town, Once Upon a Honeymoon, Bachelor and Bobby-Soxer, Monkey Business, People Will Talk, Mr Blandings…
Jean Arthur – Easy Living, The More the Merrier, Adventure in Manhattan
Ray Milland – Major and Minor, Three Smart Girls, Doctor Takes a Wife
Barbara Stanwyck – Ball of Fire, Babyface
Others – Libeled Lady, Vivacious Lady, Casablanca, Ninotchka
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Oh, SO MANY of these are ones I want to remake!!! People Will Talk and The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer are PERFECT for Shahrukh Khan today. Once Upon a Honeymoon I remember being weirdly dark, and I never liked Mr. Blandings for some reason.
Easy Living! You didn’t cross-list it, that is primo Ray Milland. And just SUCH a cute funny movie. The whole “Rich boy thrown out and trying to find a job” is ideal for Hindi film, right???
Major and the Minor was actually remade already, but with the genders reversed I think? Anyway, it’s Half-Ticket. And that movie is SO good. Sexiest Ginger Rogers has ever looked. If you loved little sister Diana Lynn in that, you MUST watch The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, she is even better in that.
Speaking of sexy, Gary Cooper in Ball of Fire? Pretty awesome, right? Who would we cast to play that role in Hindi film? I would say Deepika to play Barbra STanwyck, for sure.
And I totally forgot about Vivacious Lady, and I just looked it up and it is GREAT!!!
On Mon, Aug 30, 2021 at 4:05 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes! Shahrukh at different ages could have played all the Cary Grant roles I think. I liked all these films of his, Mr Blandings probably the least. I’m pretty sure you had written a People Will Talk remake post. And I want Shahrukh-Rani for Bachelor and Bobby Soxer. Yes, the setting of Once Upon a Honeymoon is completely dark and bonkers, yet I have a fondness for it because Cary and Ginger are so charming and cute with their romantic shenanigans in insane situations.
Ah yes, Ray Milland! So I’d only seen him in Dial M for Murder before that where he was nasty old guy, and I went ‘Wow!’ seeing him in Easy Living. But I felt the film was Jean Arthur’s story and he was just in the sidelines, I liked him more in the other three films. But yeah, his story is perfect for Hindi films.
Looked up Half-Ticket, it seems to have just taken the concept and is a different story. Oh, I have so many thoughts about Major and Minor! First, I was bracing myself almost the entire movie waiting for something uncomfortable to happen. It didn’t, at least not in the way I was expecting, because it was the minor boys who were pawing Ginger Rogers! Even suspending disbelief that she passes as a ‘child’ in the movie, I just don’t think this movie can be made today. I am curious – how did you find her sexy when she is supposed to be a ‘child’ throughout the movie? That’s my biggest problem – there is no interaction between adult Ginger and Ray before they end up together!
Yes to Gary Cooper, and an awesome concept for a remake. I have to say that for some of the films, I like the idea of them more than the execution. Like in Ball of Fire, I expected much more interactions and clashes between the repressed professor and the dancer. Yup, Deepika’s Mohini from HNY is kind of that character.
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I found Ginger Rogers super gorgeous in the one moment when she gets to be her own age. Which is important, because we have to buy her as this stunningly beautiful mature woman from just that one moment despite playing a child in the rest of the movie. And yes! There is nothing icky! She is a grown up woman patiently putting up with teenage boys being creepy, but always in control. Even Ray Milland never gets icky with her, he’s just super nice. Agree about the lack of “real” interaction though. In our Indian remake, we will have some section in the middle when they meet off campus with her as a grown woman and really hit it off. And then she has to disappear back to being her child version.
Maybe a Shahrukh-Deepika movie for Ball of Fire? Same plot, just more tension between them.
On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 12:49 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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If she reveals her actual age in the middle, can she go back to being the child in his eyes? Otherwise agree with the rest.
So the joke with casting Gary Cooper is that he is unaware he looks like a hunk and is actually a nerd, right? Then Shahrukh has to look like Harry/Jug and behave like Suri, right?
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I was thinking about that challenge too. Maybe a good old fashioned masked ball? They spend the night talking and dancing and even kiss, and then the next day he doesn’t realize she is the teenage girl he brought home?
Absolutely SRK should look like Jug and act like Suri! He can be all “I don’t care about anything, so I let my hair grow out and forget to shave and wear unbuttoned shirts”
On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 7:01 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I like Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin better than It Happened One Night. I also like Satte Pe Satta a LOT better than Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Hmmm… I’m sure there are others!
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Oh I don’t like Chori Chori better than Housesitter, but I like them both equally. I’ve realized I really like Goldie Hawn remakes. Many of her older movies are great for Hindi films!
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Wait isn’t Chori Chori also It Happened One Night?
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Old Chori Chori is It Happened One Night, new Chori Chori is Housesitter. I guess it’s just a great title for remakes?
On Mon, Aug 30, 2021 at 11:40 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I was just about to respond when I saw that Margaret already did. So, yes, what she said. If you haven’t seen the new Chori Chori, I do recommend it!
Personally, I like Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin better than the old Chori Chori but I don’t have a particular reason why. I think it is probably because I watched Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin as a teenager and at the time just fell in love with the movie. Aamir and Pooja’s chemistry is SO SO good!
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Please do an SRK Emilia Clarke fiction with a younger version of SRK and a slightly older version of Emilia Clarke.
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Please do an Emilia Clarke – Shahrukh Khan fiction with Emilia Clarke being older than Shahrukh.
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You are welcome re: Just Wright! It is so good! I feel like if it is based on cricket, and with the Mujse Dosti Karoge connection, it has to be Hrithik, Kareena, and Rani. Sorry Shah Rukh.
Also, when we watched Just Wright, I knew nothing about Common. My husband was so excited to educate me on an actor/singer that he knew about that I didn’t, and Common just seems like such an amazing guy. Plus, Queen Latifa is just amazing! I need more on screen romance between actors that are also awesome people.
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It’s such a perfect MDK redux!!! Especially because it has the Female Friendship Triumphant ending.
On Mon, Aug 30, 2021 at 1:36 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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