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Results Are In: Recast Meet the Parents

BuzzSugar — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:44:06 -0800

Every other Wednesday on BuzzSugar, I post a Recast challenge, where I ask you to choose new actors for a classic TV show or movie. The reader who submits the best cast wins a BuzzSugar T-shirt!

Last week I asked you all to brainstorm some new faces for the Ben Stiller hit, Meet the Parents. I had fun reading all the ideas put forth for Gaylord "Greg" Focker including krae85's suggestion of Jack Black. I'm also glad eegle1234 thought of Sarah Michelle Gellar to play Pam, as I think that's such a great idea.

To me, the movie rests on just how intimidating (yet funny) the actor playing Jack Byrnes can be. Amanda6783's idea for Bruce Willis is a really good one, as is lemuse20's suggestion of Christopher Walken. Both actors totally get how to be intimidating and have great comedic timing.

But it was sundew's idea for Jack that was the hardest to resist. Congrats sundew!

To see who sundew chose, along with a new cast photo, read more.

sundew's cast list:
Gaylord "Greg" Focker - Jason Segel
Pam Byrnes - Elizabeth Banks
Jack Byrnes - Alec Baldwin
Dina Byrnes - Dianne Wiest
Kevin Rawley - Ed Helms

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Recast Meet the Parents and Win a Prize!

BuzzSugar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:30:55 -0800

Every other Wednesday on BuzzSugar, I post a Recast challenge, where I ask you to choose new actors for a classic TV show or movie. The reader who submits the best cast wins a BuzzSugar t-shirt!

Since we're coming upon the time of year when lots of folks bring home that special someone to meet the family, I thought the Ben Stiller comedy Meet the Parents would be a fun movie to recast.

Who would you cast as the young couple in love: Male nurse Gaylord "Greg" Focker, and his fiancee Pam Byrnes? Then there's Pam's overprotective father, Jack Byrnes, a retired CIA operative played by an intimidating Robert De Niro. Blythe Danner as Pam's mother, Dina Byrnes, is superbly clueless in the role - who has a similarly sweet, calming manner? And then there's my favorite character to recast, Kevin Rawley (originally played by Owen Wilson), Pam's rich ex-fiance who is really good at woodworking.

Leave your entry in the comment section below, and I'll pick one winner to feature Tuesday, Dec. 9, complete with a "new" cast photo. To see a list of characters to recast and a photo of the BuzzSugar t-shirt, read more.

Characters to recast:
Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller)
Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo)
Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro)
Dina Byrnes (Blythe Danner)
Kevin Rawley (Owen Wilson)

The BuzzSugar t-shirt

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Buzz Brainteaser

BuzzSugar — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:45:00 -0700

Welcome to Buzz Brainteaser, a new trivia feature on BuzzSugar! Every weekday I'll test your knowledge about TV shows, music and movies. If you enter in the correct answer, you win points! Some will be easy, some will be difficult, and some will be highly specific. But don't get discouraged - if you get one wrong, you'll get another chance to try your luck the next day! Name the song that Jack (Robert DeNiro) and Greg (Ben Stiller) discuss while riding alone in the car together in Meet the Parents.

FlashForward Breakdown, "Believe"

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:30:32 -0800

The most central characters of FlashForward take a backseat this week, letting Bryce and Aaron take the spotlight. It's a nice relief from Mark and Demetri's constant agonizing over their own fates (though we still get a dose of that, too).

We learn that Bryce has been keeping a big secret, and Aaron's reunion with his daughter isn't all he had expected it to be. Ready to get into it? Just read more.

I want to believe: We finally get some insight into why Bryce tried to kill himself: he has stage four cancer and has been keeping it a secret from everyone but his therapist. We also get to see his saving grace - in his flashforward, Bryce is laughing and smiling in a restaurant with a pretty Asian woman. Determined to make his fate come true, Bryce takes up Japanese (with Nicole's help) and even heads to Asia when he's supposed to be in Houston testing out a wonder drug. Here's what confuses me: in Bryce's vision, he sees himself saying "you're really here" and he knows it's months into the future. Why does he try to rush fate? I wasn't surprised at all when he and Keiko don't make the connection in Japan (though I did feel a bit disappointed for him). Side note: Nicole is totally falling for Bryce.

Across the pond: Bryce isn't the only one who is featured this week; we get some background info on the (literal) woman of his dreams. Keiko is a young, bright woman living with her parents and working for a robotics firm. Though her life looks perfect on paper, Keiko is bored at work and with her personal life, longing to play her guitar and find her soulmate. She gets a shiny new outlook on life when she sees Bryce in her vision, and we realize that their meeting doesn't take place in Japan after all, but in LA.

Family ties: Aaron is having a hard time adjusting to life with Tracy. Her continual drinking habit causes a fight between them; Aaron can't be around alcohol, and Tracy feels entitled to drink after all she's been through. Tracy storms out and Aaron blames himself for her addiction and her post-war transformation. Mark only makes matters worse when he accuses Aaron of telling Olivia that he was drinking in his flashforward, and Aaron tells Mark he shouldn't be his sponsor anymore. Losing his sponsor can't be good for Mark and his vision.

Other major plot points:

Demetri finally makes strides on figuring out who called him about his murder. The call is traced back to Hong Kong, and though Stan doesn't want Demetri heading overseas, Mark offers to go with him in secret.
The FBI agents discover that suspect zero wears a ring with an alpha symbol on it but aren't sure what to make of it.

Did you like this week's episode, or were you longing for more action? Will Nicole get in the way of Bryce and Keiko?

Desperate Housewives Rundown, "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid"

BuzzSugar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:30:30 -0700

This week's episode of Desperate Housewives is all about judgment (though it's also a little bit about monkey attacks, but more on that later). The Bolen family continues with their shady behavior, while Julie is having some trouble adjusting to life on Wisteria Lane after her attack. Meanwhile, Gaby is accused of being a bad mom and Bree has a showdown with a motel housekeeper.

Ready to talk about it? Just read more.

Gaby: Gaby gets the comic relief once again this week as she tries to prove her mothering skills to the other snippy ladies at school. In order to regain their trust, she lures their children to Juanita's birthday party by pulling out all the stops. Of course things go awry when the trained monkey starts attacking the clown while Gaby is busy having drinks with Susan. In the end Carlos comforts her, but I have to admit - Gaby isn't exactly the greatest mom in the world. That said, Carlos isn't exactly a model parent either - where was he during his daughter's birthday party?

Susan: Susan and Katherine's rivalry reaches new heights this week, when the ladies have a mini-showdown at their neighborhood watch meeting. Susan is paranoid about Katherine coming on to Mike, and it culminates when Susan accidentally shoots Katherine through a window. Susan wouldn't be Susan without her usual clumsy antics, but couldn't she just ignore Katherine? Katherine seems so desperate, but Susan is kinda sinking to her level. Not to mention that calling Katherine a "loon" isn't exactly the best method of telling your friend that she probably needs to see a professional.

Angie: Most of Angie's problems take place without her even knowing it this week, as Danny gives the family gun to Julie for protection. Danny also confronts Dominic about his affair with Julie, and Dominic responds in a typically creepy manner, telling Danny to go ahead and spill to Angie. Angie keeps her distance for most of the episode, but then she plays a big factor in keeping Katherine crazy, to keep Katherine from turning in the Bolen family gun. I know Angie is a tough cookie, but somehow I feel like she may be the moral member of her family.

Lynette: Lynette's "twins" situation (both of 'em) is put on hold this week as she tries to help out her friend Mrs. McCluskey. First of all, McCluskey talking about her sex life - eeew. Lynette agrees to hire McCluskey's boyfriend Roy as the Scavo family handyman, but Roy won't stop going over Lynette's head and turning to Tom for ultimate decision-making. When Roy basically tells Lynette that she's emasculating her husband, Lynette loses it and fires him. But how sweet is Tom explaining to Roy that he lets Lynette have control so that she can feel safe? By far my favorite moment of the episode.

Bree: I thought Bree's storyline was kinda lame this week. The maid at the motel starts judging Bree's cheating ways, so of course Bree does all she can to defend herself. In the end, the housekeeper is just trying to warn Bree that she was once in her shoes, and that everything went awry. (Lesson to all: cheat on your husband and you'll end up a maid?) The maid does get one awesome one-liner: "Cheating's not a sin when you do it in pearls?"

What'd you think of this week's episode? Are Katherine and her crazy antics starting to bug you? Are you more creeped out by Dominick than ever? Let's dish in the comments!

Whip It: A Rollicking Good Time

BuzzSugar — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:30:56 -0700

Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, roller derby comedy Whip It, is not unlike the actress's persona: cute, fun, and with a whole lot going on.

Ellen Page stars as quiet 17-year-old Bliss Cavendar, whose mother (Marcia Gay Harden) wants to make her the queen of small-town Texas beauty pageants. Bliss meekly goes along with the idea, her voice too small to tell her mom she hates the contests. But one chance visit to nearby big city Austin and everything changes. Bliss admires some intimidating derby girls, and after sneaking off to a match, decides to try out. What follows is a fast-paced, highly entertaining girl-power anthem.

To read more about what I did and didn't like about the movie, just read more.

The movie is perfectly cast; Page plays a shy teen easily, never giving up her sweetness even after she adopts the moniker "Babe Ruthless" and gets repeatedly knocked into the rink sidelines. The team who welcomes her, the Hurl Scouts, is a motley crew: Eve and Zoe Bell don't become much more than background players, Barrymore is an ebullient if minor supporter ("Smashley Simpson"), but team captain Kristen Wiig is one of the hearts of the movie. With a part bigger than the trailer implies, Wiig (I never get tired of the derby names: "Maggie Mayhem") emerges as a mother figure when Bliss's relationship with her own mom is strained. It's nice to see her playing straight for once, and besides Page, Wiig is really the only multi-faceted derby girl.

That's not to say that the derby girls aren't anything special. Beautiful, tough, and impossibly cool, maybe you wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley, but you'd definitely want to be invited to their party. Juliette Lewis looks every part the queen bee - aggressive and sexy, she'll push you in a locker before you know what hit you. And naturally, there's a love interest, musician Landon Pigg - but he's kind of an afterthought, which I liked. By not giving in to the cliche that a girl gets everything she wants when she finds her passion, it strengthens the movie's pervasive girl power idea.

The movie isn't just about derby; it's a coming-of-age tale too, and Bliss didn't come from a shaky foundation. Alia Shawkat (yay, Maeby!) plays the hilarious and supportive BFF who doesn't exist just to cheer Bliss on from the sidelines. She's got her own thing, and is too confident to be left behind when Bliss gets wrapped up in her new life - a refreshing departure from the typical best friend character. And Harden isn't merely a strict parent caricature; she may want something completely different for her daughter, but her caring nature shines through.

It's not all success on skates, though. Sometimes the portrayal of the derby world gets to be an overzealous glorification. Sure, it's an amazing outlet for a lot of people and one of the few contact sports that really belongs to women, but the movie pushes the sexualization of the players a little too far. It's already sexy that the women play such a powerful sport, so it's not really necessary to do close-ups of the actresses' bare flesh to show the bruises.

There are a few things you could criticize about Barrymore's direction; for instance, Shauna Cross's screenplay is really quite funny, but some of the actors' lines fall flat. Also, the roller derby scenes have such potential to be exciting, and they could have been even more epic. Then again, this is Barrymore's first outing as a director, and it's still what you would expect from her: a fun-loving, freewheeling confection of a movie with a killer soundtrack.

Photos courtesy of Fox Searchlight

Jessica Alba May Meet the Little Fockers

BuzzSugar — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:30:59 -0700

The latest installment in the Meet the Parents/Meet the Fockers franchise will not just introduce young diapered characters, but it'll also introduce a pretty young thing. Jessica Alba is in talks to play a sexpot pharmaceutical rep in Little Fockers, the third Fockers movie.

Alba's character's beauty is supposed to "wreak havoc on the male characters" - not an unbelievable task for the actress.

Though I thought the Focker series had run its course when this sequel was announced, I'm curious to see how big of a part Alba will have. She's not exactly my favorite actress in the world, but at least the franchise is introducing some new blood to add to the ensemble.

Mad Men: This Week's 5 Maddest Moments

BuzzSugar — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:15:03 -0700

So how did this year's Emmy winner for Outstanding Drama Series follow up its win? With a shocking turn of events that made me stop and wonder if I was on the right channel.

Even the pun-y title, "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency," was sort of un-Mad Men-like. But with an episode loaded with the visit from Sterling Cooper's British owners, Joan's last day, and Sally's aversion to her baby brother, there was a lot going on.

To see what I thought of this week's episode (spoilers ahead!), just read more.

The bloody British invasion: Eeeeeeeeeew! In the grossest Mad Men scene ever, secretary Lois runs over visiting Guy's foot, splattering blood all over employees and the walls. (Did it really need to spray like that?! It was like an episode of Dexter.) I wanted to make like Peggy and pass out, though Sterling does get points for his "foot in the door" joke.
The Mad Men laugh factory: The second funniest joke of the episode is Joan's "One minute you're on top of the world, the next minute some secretary's running you over with a lawn mower." Don laughed! A full-on chortle! And early on, John dryly punks Kinsey by telling him he should shave his beard. "That was a joke," he tells an irate Kinsey. I needed the assurance myself - and for the whole episode. I was thrown off; this is usually a giggle-free hour of TV.
More Joan, please: I was happy to see so much screen time for Joan. Even though I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop with her husband, I like that he's humanized when he doesn't receive his residency. Likewise, that prompts more of Joan without her standard her steely office manager facade as she offers sympathy and comfort to her devastated husband. It's an obvious contrast to Don and Betty's relationship, where communication is not a strong point. Later, she tears up when Sterling Cooper celebrates her contribution, and then once again shows how much the office needs her when the accident strikes.
Don and Roger's barbershop date: Sure, Don tells Roger he looks like a fool earlier in the season, but unlike Burt Cooper I didn't really sense that they need to patch things up. I still love that Burt sends Don and Roger on a date in an effort to get them to be buds again.
What's in a name? Sally's inability to gain closure over Grandpa Gene's death is all wrapped up in her new brother. I gotta say, I was a little weirded out myself that Betty chose to name the baby after her father. There's a clear winner in parenting this week - Betty tries to solve Sally's problem with a Barbie doll "from" baby Gene, while Don tenderly shows Sally that the baby's life is a new start. I couldn't help but swoon.

What moments stood out to you in this week's episode? Were you as beside yourself as I was over the foot/lawnmower scene? And what did you make of Conrad Hilton's summoning Don to a meeting?

Photo courtesy of AMC