Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was made in 1988 and was actually a
remake of the 1964 movie, Bedtime Story. It starred Michael Caine and Steve
Martin and was directed by Frank Oz. In
it, Michael Caine played a very posh con man living in the seaside town of
Beaumont-sur-Mer, making an incredible living conning mostly women, heiresses,
with the help of a few assistants. His
pleasant world is rocked by the arrival of a crass American sub-par con man
played by Steve Martin. Caine agrees to
help train Martin in return for his assistance. They have a falling out, and
compete for the territory by attempting to get the fortune of a wealthy woman.
This new version, produced by Rebel Wilson and starring Anne
Hathaway and Wilson is almost exactly the same story. Wilson plays Penny, a crass con-woman who
runs into Hathaway’s Josephine Chesterfield, a very posh and polished con-woman. Josephine trains Penny, but after a falling
out, they compete to steal the fortune from an American tech giant in town for
a conference.
The movie had potential and really should have been so much
funnier than it is. Wilson is game, and goes
full-out for the comedy. Hathaway seems an odd choice for this movie, and
really I can’t help but wonder if the movie would have been better with someone
more comedy-capable in the role. The
movie is directed by Chris Addison, who has previously directed mostly TV shows,
and this movie is well put together, just not as funny as I wanted it to be.
- Anne Hathaway plays Josephine Chesterfield with a questionable British accent that may have been a choice since we do not really know if the character is British, or if that’s a con as well. She seems disinterested and aloof, but again – perhaps those are character choices and she’s doing a great job?
- Rebel Wilson plays Penny Rust, and it’s very similar to other characters she has played. It’s interesting to see her progress through the training with Josephine, but I would have liked to see that result in more of a character shift.
- Alex Sharp plays Thomas Westerburg, the tech genius whose fortune they are after. He’s one-note until the end, which is not a surprise if you’ve seen the original.
- Ingrid Oliver plays Brigitte Desjardins, a police officer helping Josephine.
- Dean Norris has a very brief role as a mark for the two women.
Overall the movie is fine, and there’s a chuckle here and
there, but I really wanted laughs from this movie and it did not deliver that level
of hijinks. Of course, I remember having the same feeling from the original. It
made me feel uncomfortable more than it made me laugh, and this one is right
along those lines. I would have liked to
see the women targeting some terrible men so that you could get on board with
them taking their fortunes. That felt
like another missed opportunity.
Honestly, I didn’t like either of the characters, and that would have
been a way to get the audience on their side. The potential was there, and it’s
a perfectly serviceable comedy, but it could have been much funnier.
6 out of 10 – it’s fine, but it’s not great.
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