In news that makes us simultaneously shriek with excitement and roll our eyes, Hollywood is preparing for a remake of 1999's She's All That. It's going to be directed by Kenny Leon, but mum's the world on the state of random celeb cameos. (Usher, you down to DJ?)
A recap: She's All That is (roughly) George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion set at a high school in the late 90s. You know, a classic tale of "makeovers change everything" except She's All That was clear to state that the makeover recipent—Laney Boggs—was "not improved, just different." Laney wins the heart of the hunk—played by 90s heartthrob Freddie Prinze Jr. (remember him??)—and, la la la, everything is okay at the end.
Is the film enjoyable? Yes. Is it worth remaking? Absolutely not . . . except for one scene that might justify the entire production. You know what I'm talking about: The Rockafeller Skank dance. With the kind of magic that comes only from the intersection of 90s teen movies and romantic comedies, the school breaks out into a beautifully choreographed number to Fatboy Slim's "Rockafeller Skank." Usher briefly alludes to teaching the students the dance, but that's all we get until suddenly, the crowd morphs into one moving unit of flailing arms, turns (Usher also taught everyone to spot their heads), head bobs, and pop-ups. Lives were changed. It was the dance that made all youngsters count breathlessly until their own prom nights. It was the dance that took Fatboy Slim from NOW CDs to the moviegoer crowd.
It was everything.
For the remake, we propose a choreographed dance to LCD Soundsystem's "Dance Yrself Clean" started at the 3:07 mark. Also Lil' Kim's character should be replaced with Nicki Minaj and given more lines. This is totally do-able, Leon.
If the remake does that scene justice, we'll be first in line, gobbling popcorn, awaiting the premiere (all while rolling our eyes at Hollywood's tired lack of creativity, of course).
