That's Entertainment

Today in entertainment news I read the following stories:
Farrellys' "South Park" Smackdown
Is Cartman a crook?

Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the gross-out gurus behind Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary are accusing South Park masterminds Trey Parker and Matt Stone of ripping off a movie idea.

Per Daily Variety, the Farrellys claim a 2004 South Park episode, in which Cartman pretends to be mentally disabled to compete in the Special Olympics, blatantly copied The Ringer, the brother's upcoming movie about, yes, a guy who feigns a mental disability to win the Special Olympics.

Parker and Stone's story line pissed off the Farrellys and Ringer writer Ricky Blitt so much that it sparked ill will between the two comedy teams. "When you think of a premise so radical it'sunmakable, you hang in for seven years to see it through, it is a shock to the system to have people on Websites saying, 'You hack, you stole this from South Park,' " Blitt tells Variety. "I set this up so long before that episode was conceived. It is bad enough to have your idea taken: It's 1,000 times worse when you are then accused of stealing."

I have a pretty twisted sense of humor and I might even watch such a movie, but I don't think that I'd have the chutzpah to suggest that this was stolen, or maybe I would. Anyway, in the name of decency it somehow makes sense to me that there is controversy about this.

In other news who taught these people how to drive.

"Besides Rodriguez and Watros, five other members of the cast have been pulled over by police and issued citations--four of them for speeding, according to the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

  • Josh Holloway (Sawyer) was pulled over Sept. 21 and ticketed for allegedly going 53 mph in a 35 mph zone.
  • Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) was pulled over on March 10 and cited for allegedly going 78 mph in a 55 mph zone and driving without a license. He was also stopped Aug. 12, 2004, for allegedly going 68 mph in a 45 mph zone.
  • Naveen Andrews (Sayid) was pulled over March 9 and cited for allegedly going 70 mph in a 35 mph zone on March 9, and again on Oct. 15. for going 42 mph in a 25 mph zone.
  • Ian Somerhalder (Boone) was pulled over March 2 for allegedly going 74 mph in a 45 mph zone.
  • Harold Perrineau Jr. (Michael) was pulled over and ticketed Oct. 9 for having no motor vehicle insurance and no safety check. (The actor has since provided the court with proof of his insurance and the matter has been dismissed.)"

2 comments:

dorothy rothschild said...

You know, it is possible that they just had the same idea. It's not like these dudes, any of them, are super deep thinkers, and a lot of their thinking runs to the same kind of jokes. So for them to independently come up with the same scheme is not such a stretch.

Jack Steiner said...

It could be, wouldn't surprise me.

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