So, uh, Denzel Washington kinda has a thing for Kimberly Elise, huh? She was in his Manchurian Candidate remake as well as John Q which, to my continuing disappointment, wasn’t Nick Cassavete’s remake of Takashi Miike’s homage to lactation and family values. I keep picking up the DVD case, hoping some magic has happened since last time; it never has.
Now Washington has cast Elise in his upcoming The Great Debaters, which is about, well, some…great…debaters? Don’t get me wrong. It’s great to see Denzel back in the director’s chair again. But a debate movie? I know that inspirational stories sell pretty well and they look better on a resume than Visitor Q. But come on, man. Denzel is one of about four honest to god leading men we’ve got and he’s throwing his muscle behind yet another version of the same goddamned movie that we’re going to see another few times this year?
He’s also thrown Nate Parker into the mix, who was in Pride with Elise earlier this year. Remember that inspirational tale about people not drowning? Me, neither, even though it had the always awesome Terence Howard above the line. Maybe I can refresh my memory when I program it in a double feature with The Great Debaters some time early next year. Sigh.