Rotten Scoundrels again

Occasionally I’ll mention how much I miss Steve Martin — not the charmless pod person from the past decade, but the genuinely funny guy from PLAINS TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, L.A. STORY and DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS.

Someone is going to have to step in for him now on that last one — a remake of Frank Oz’s 1988 comedy (itself a remake) is in the works, attempting to somehow upgrade the dueling con artists of Martin and Michael Caine. The movie involves two con men with radically different styles, both trying to swindle the same rich lady, which becomes a competition between the two.

The remake will be written and directed by Steve Pink, which could prove a positive — he co-wrote GROSSE POINTE BLANK and HIGH FIDELITY. But wait… he’ll also be “updating the Internet-era context of the cons”. Umm…

The new version comes from remake kings MGM, who’ve already assaulted us with a new PINK PANTHER (and another on the way) and have plans to do the same with ROBOCOP, RED DAWN and POLTERGEIST.