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Digging for Something

After taking it pretty lightly in the last two weeks, I'm guaranteeing 3 columns next week. I haven't done that in a while, but I'll surely have plenty of material to write about. Is is just me or is September is a poor month for cinema? Except those lucky souls in Toronto that is. Here's my short review of the script to Holes.

My Script Review of Holes

Harry Potter has sparked a frenzy in the children book's community. Everyone has been buying kids' properties left and right with hopes of landing the next big thing. Phoenix Pictures bought the rights to Louis Sachar's novel Holes. Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) was then tapped to direct the adaptation, written by Sachar himself and co-writer Brent Hanley. This project is still looking for a North American distributor. Hopefully it will find one soon.

Stanley Yelnats (Shia La Beouf) is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather and has since followed generation of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys detention center, Camp Green Lake, for stealing a pair of shoes from Hoops superstar Clive 'Sweet Feet' Livingston (Rick Fox). The nefarious warden of the Camp (Sigourney Weaver) makes the boys build character by spending all day, every day, digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake but there are an awful lot of holes. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize that there is more than character improvement going on at the camp. The boys are digging holes because the Warden is looking for something...

I liked this script. It's not the most spectacular I've ever read but it is good. It slowly moves in and once you're hooked you definitely want to know how this story ends. I omitted something important about the story in my synopsis. There are a lot of flashbacks in the screenplay. Most of them deal with Kissin' Kate Barlow (Patricia Arquette). At one point, I became more interested in her story than in Stanley's quest for redemption. How her story and the main storyline tie together is eventful and intriguing. It left me wanting more Kissin' Kate. That could be the script's only real flaw.

WARDEN
You know why you're digging holes? Because it's good for you. It teaches you a lesson.

The warden is a mysterious character in the first act but gradually emerges in the story. It's a strong part for Sigourney Weaver. She steals the show in every one of her appearance. Her search for... the treasure of Kissin Kate Barlow is the soul of this tale. I'm curious to see how Weaver plays it.

Another very interesting character is Mr. Sir, The Warden's second-in-command. The talented Jon Voight has that villainous role. The duo of Mr. Sir/The Warden is very reminiscent of Madame Medusa and Mr Snoops in Disney's The Rescuers. Actually, Holes reminds me an awful lot of The Rescuers, which is a good thing because I loved that animated movie. The other kids were well-written. They weren't no-name characters. Each have distinct personalities and you could tell them apart. It was a nice touch from the writers.

In the end, the writers have done a really good job. Now it's up to Davis and his cast to see if they can built on this and make it GREAT...

Stay tuned...

That's all folks...

Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)

Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org

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Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.