Horrors! Attack of the remakes

The Variety article mentioned that the new film's producers would "factor in advances in technology" in their update. They'll also surely factor in advances in political correctness, as the comic relief in the original film -- which starred Steve Guttenberg and Ally Sheedy at the height of their powers -- was provided by Fisher Stevens, a white guy from Chicago playing a horny Indian scientist spouting enthusiastic malapropisms and stereotypically mangled syntax. Some choice lines of dialogue: "I am thinking she is a virgin. Or at least she used to be." "With excitement like this, who is needing enemas?" "So now I am having no job to speak about. I will have to smack the sidewalk."

Believe it or not, there's actually an ongoing debate about this on the IMDb.com chat boards, for those inclined to weigh in, though the issue being discussed is less about the embarrassingly passe stereotype than the cross-ethnic casting choice. (That same year also delivered "Soul Man," with C. Thomas Howell as a white kid pretending to be black to get into Harvard.)

Given the evolution of our racial and ethnic sensitivities, it's unlikely that Wilson and Maddock would revive the character, despite his ability to earn laughs 22 years ago. Well, it's at least as unlikely as the producers rehiring Guttenberg to star.

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