all of me Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Did you know that Queen Latifah, who is remaking All of Me, wants Steve Martin to reprise his role from the original 1984 comedy? It's news to me and possibly news to Martin who apparently hasn't been given many details about what Latifah and director Adam Shankman (Hairspray) want to do with the film.

All of Me originally starred Martin and Lily Tomlin -- an outrageously funny duo -- and was about two souls that merge into one body. Tomlin plays a wealthy woman who wants her life to continue on earth via the body of another woman. She calls upon Martin's lawyer services to rearrange her will and a soul transference ceremony. As Martin exits her sky rise apartment before the services begin, an act of human clumsiness sends the bowl that Tomlin's soul was resting in flying out the window and onto Martin's head. Thus the ceremony is botched and Tomlin is now present in Martin's body. The film becomes a physical comedy as the personalities fight to cohabitate.

The premise of the remake will essentially stay the same. Latifah stated to MTV that a number of story options were being presented to Shankman and herself but not much has been determined. As for Martin returning to the role he originated over 20 years ago? Stage actors reprise their roles often without too much guffawing and Martin has aged so graciously that physically, he would have no problem re-inhabiting the role. Whether he should do the project or not is best left to be determined by the script. I have to admit that I have instant trepidation about this one. It could be wonderfully brilliant but another part of me would rather let sleeping dogs lie.

I always thought of All of Me as a tragically forgotten classic from the 1980s -- that is until I forgot all about it myself. Now I can't really make a good case for its worth, as I apparently didn't do a good job of keeping conscious of it, but I still have a hard time digesting the fact that in addition to being left behind, it is also about to be made somewhat obsolete. New Line has announced it is remaking the comedy, which starred Steve Martin as a man accidentally forced to share his body with the soul of Lily Tomlin, and that the new version will star Queen Latifah. Though it hasn't been revealed if Latifah will play the body or the soul, I have a good guess she'll be taking on the part originally played by Martin.

The interesting thing is that Adam Shankman is producing (and maybe directing?). In case you aren't familiar with Shankman's work, well, incidentally he made two movies starring Martin, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and Bringing Down the House, the latter which also starred Latifah. Wait, I think I figured out the idea: the new All of Me will turn the old one on its head by having Martin play the character co-inhabiting Latifah's body. Of course! If there's anything that could be worse than a man having to share his body with the mind of a woman it is an African American diva having to share her body with the mind of a white guy.

In case you have never seen the original All of Me, you should probably check it out before the remake comes around and lowers its value. It came out in 1984 and was the fourth consecutive collaboration between Martin and director Carl Reiner (the first, The Jerk being the best one, of course). It was also the last decent movie made by Reiner as well as Tomlin's last decent starring role in a comedy (sure, I have soft spots in my heart for both Reiner's Summer School and Tomlin in Big Business, but there's no point in defending them). My favorite part of the whole movie, though, involves the great character actor Richard Libertini, a ringing telephone and a toilet bowl.