Don't mention the writer

In its October 1-2 edition, The Australian newspaper made a factual error with entertainment article, ‘Nice and Funny.’ In the interview with Steve Carell (NBC’s The Office, Little Miss Sunshine), the writer seemed to appreciate the actor’s new romantic comedy, Crazy, Stupid, Love. However, the article – by Michael Bodey – repeatedly asserted that directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa wrote the film, which is not true. Rather, Crazy, Stupid, Love began as an original screenplay by Dan Fogelman, an American writer better known for his work on popular animated features Cars, Bolt, Tangled and Cars 2.

This curious error was exasperated by critic David Stratton’s review on the next page. Like Mr. Bodey, Mr. Stratton also like the film, and responded to the material’s warmth and charm, labelling it one of the better American comedies of this year (a category that also includes The Hangover Part II, Bridesmaids, Bad Teacher, Horrible Bosses and The Change-Up). Unfortunately, though, Mr. Stratton also failed to mention Mr. Fogelman in his write-up. Although his review did not credit the directors with the screenplay, the At the Movies co-host did not refer to the writer, even though Mr. Stratton twice quoted from the film’s dialogue (“I went to see the new Twilight movie by myself – it was so bad,” “Are you breaking up with me, Bernie?”).

What is going on? Why would two of Australia’s more intellectual mainstream critics – Mr. Bodey discussed the ‘auteur’ theory late last year whilst Mr. Stratton teaches at the University of Sydney – reduce the role of the writer?

Mr. Bodey insists that his was an editorial error: “a silly mistake in the craziness of newspapers,” he confesses (although one that has not been corrected on the site). In a phone interview, Mr. Bodey says that he specifically asked Mr. Carell about Mr. Fogelman in their interview. However, many film writers have failed to appreciate the writer’s role in the film. Mr. Stratton was not the only critic to overlook Mr. Fogelman’s efforts: the Herald Sun’s Leigh Paatsch and the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern, too, did not mention Mr. Fogelman’s name in their write-ups. Meanwhile, The New Yorker’s David Denby was as concerned with Carell’s “elongated, almost-Cyrano nose” as a little thing like a screenplay.

Perhaps these critics felt that the writer-directors heavily rewrote the script, which is not an unreasonable assumption given that Mr. Ficarra and Mr. Requa are strong and inventively funny writers themselves, as illustrated by their excellent screenplays for Bad Santa and I Love You Phillip Morris (which they also directed). Alternatively, maybe they thought that Mr. Carell improvised his role, which –again – is understandable as the actor co-wrote The 40 Year Old Virgin and trained as an improv performer at Chicago’s Second City troupe.

However, Mr. Fogelman’s final draft is actually very close to the finished film. Certainly, there are clear instances of improvisation or rewriting: for instance, Julianne Moore’s Twilight line does not feature in Mr. Fogelman’s script. Essentially, though, the structure, format, humour and characterisation of Crazy, Stupid, Love is evident in Mr. Fogelman’s work, which offers at least three laugh-out-loud sequences (F.Y.I. those scenes are The Karate Kid discussion, the Carell/Moore/Marisa Tomei sequence and a celebration-turned-brawl).

Mr. Bodey says that – though he would like to read screenplays – legal difficulties mean that critics rarely have access to scripts to new releases. “I would love to. I was talking to a producer the other day about a U.S. film that has just been out and he said they were disappointed with it because they had gotten a director who totally changed the screenplay so the screenplay they approved didn’t make it to the screen,” Mr. Bodey says. “I asked if I could see the original screenplay because I thought it would be a great story and a great thing to look at. He’s got my email but he hasn’t sent it because it is all a bit testy, legally.”

Reporter-turned-screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed, Body of Lies, Edge of Darkness) is more blunt. In an interview with the film website Collider about directorial debut London Boulevard, Mr. Monahan suggests that film critics are often lazy when they discuss screenwriting: “people get quite liberal about saying ‘the script’ this and ‘the script’ that, when they’ve never read the script any more than they’ve read the latest report on Norwegian herring landings. I don’t think Roger Ebert has ever mentioned a screenplay … some reviewer might be out there saying, obviously Edge of Darkness didn’t come off because of the script, blah blah blah, but everybody has read the script, except the journalist attacking it.”

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