Dane Cook steals a lot of things.

Nolan | September 09, 00:04 CET

When I first heard about Dane's movie, I immediately thought it was a knock-off. It made me terribly sad, for multiple reasons.

I love that one of the tags is "unfunny." It ironically makes me want to chuckle.

Mrs.BigPileofDust | September 09, 00:08 CET

Serves him right for being unfunny and not original.

The Xan Man | September 09, 00:19 CET

I think it's a generic idea that two separate writers had. Not a good idea, mind you, but I don't think it's a rip-off. It's not the most original of ideas.

But stay tuned next year for my new movie "BAD DATE MAN FINDS TRUE LOVE".

Brian Lynch | September 09, 00:23 CET

I have a feeling the premise is slightly different on Dane's movie, but I'm at work and can't rewatch the trailer. Mr Fix-it came out on DVD here only a few months ago, and I did enjoy it.

Ivalaine | September 09, 00:25 CET

lol Lynch has it right IMO.

EX | September 09, 00:29 CET

imdb lists this movie as a 2006 production, not ten years ago.

I also think this might be a generic idea. Here's one with a lesbian twist "Three of Hearts".

[ edited by restless on 2008-09-09 00:49 ]

restless | September 09, 00:39 CET

I fixed the entry. I thought this movie was more recent than the site claimed.
But I agree this is another case of studios stealing each other's ideas, even if they're not good ones. Someone just wanted to see Dane Cook and Kate Hudson in a movie. Quality of script, as usual, is optional.

impalergeneral | September 09, 00:57 CET

That's exactly how it is impalergeneral. Who won't watch a movie with eye candy like that??

EX | September 09, 01:55 CET

Does it matter in the end? Both movies probably suck. Sorry, David.

deadnotsleeping | September 09, 02:35 CET

I haven't seen either film, but I think every single movie listed on IMDB has a thread where posters over their claim it's a rip off of something else.

NYPinTA | September 09, 03:22 CET

I KNEW that trailer seemed familiar. What a sad state Hollywood is in.

KLeigh | September 09, 03:22 CET

This is hardly an isolated event. All studios want the same thing: the same stories told differently. It sounds like an oxymoron, but its the truth.

MySerenity | September 09, 03:32 CET

Incidentally, I first read the title line as "Did Dane Cook steal POT from one of David Boreanaz's movies?"

WilliamTheB | September 09, 05:33 CET

I haven't seen either movie, but the Dane Cook trailer is terrible.

UnpluggedCrazy | September 09, 06:01 CET

Dunno who Dane Cook is but doesn't this happen all the time ? Like the two Poseidon Adventure remakes - admittedly one was a TV mini-series - one of which had Adam Baldwin in it, or the spate of body-swap comedies in the 80s ? Seems like ideas either hit independently at around the same time or maybe one version going into production reassures the Hollywood risk assessors that there's a market and so they get greenlit.

Saje | September 09, 11:30 CET

Ironically I found this on Yahoo not long after I saw this thread.

deepgirl187 | September 09, 13:42 CET

Must admit I didn't watch 'Disturbia' to the end but it seemed a fairly clear-cut "borrowing" of the plot of 'Rear Window', just assumed it was all above board.

But also, I thought you couldn't copyright plots and/or concepts, just specific implementations of said plots/concepts ? Cos what about e.g. 'The Burbs' with Tom Hanks, few similarities there too and I bet there're others.

Saje | September 09, 13:54 CET

Speaking of 'disturbia', what happened to David's hair in "Mr Fix-It"? Just bringing the superficial, but I gotta say he doesn't make a good blond. And something else not of the good: Dane Cook's character in this movie is named "Tank"?!

tac_tics | September 09, 14:17 CET

I thought Mr. Fix-it was pretty terrible, and I like David. The blond hair was scary. The ending was predictable.

I bought Suburban Girl with Sarah at the same time and was surprised with how very much I enjoyed it. And I'm not a chick flick kinda girl.

redeem147 | September 09, 16:31 CET

That Boreanaz movie looks kind of cute but the Dane Cook one is just blech. I don't think they are that similar, though. DB is not falling in love with his best friend's girl in it, is he? Maybe I'm confused.

I'll still boycott the Dane Cook one for suckage reasons.

CordyThinksYou'reStupid | September 09, 22:15 CET

@redeem147: Will you marry me? :) I thought I was the only other person alive who found Suburban Girl sweet, smart and refreshing.

Seriously though, was it a slow day for that site? How is this news? Movies have been doing this sort of thing for ages. Here are a few examples of basic plots that have been done at least twice:
1. "A small group of slackers explore the ups and downs of love, life and discuss music while working in an independently-owned record store" (Empire Records and High Fidelity).

2. "A cop tries to thwart a terrorist while trapped in a confined space" (Die Hard and Speed).

3. "A teenager gets a new girlfriend, but she has sex for money. He uses this information to help pay for/get into college, all the while trying to deal with her threatening boss" (Risky Business and The Girl Next Door).

4. "Two people must put aside their strong differences in age, race, gender and mental stability to work together in order to solve a murder/mystery or prevent an assassination attempt" (Pretty much anything Shane Black has ever written, but I think he's aces at it).

5. "A young person plays detective while under house arrest, in order to bring a criminal to justice" (Cherish and Disturbia).

I could do this all day, but you get the idea. For one thing, if it weren't for The Lost Boys (teen comedy/horror involving a romance between a human and a vampire), we might never have had Buffy (even the vampire makeup effects are extremely similar). At the end of the day, it's all pretty much circumstantial, surface stuff. It's what you do with those ideas to make it your own that really matters. I mean, is Cloverfield not an American version of Godzilla, which itself had already been Americanized a decade ago? What makes Cloverfield unique is in the way the story is told. I say, if you want to tell a story that's already been told (which let's face it, at their base core, all of them have) then go for it, as long as you try to expand on those initial ideas and bring something different to the table. Otherwise, you've just got a flat-out remake on your hands, and Jeebus knows that's the last thing we need more of.

I feel the same with stand-up comedy. Two people making similar, broad observational jokes is not the same thing as stealing. It is possible for two people to experience the same situation or ask the same questions in life. It happens. Comics have been around for so long, they're bound to repeat each other once in a while. Also, Dane Cook didn't write My Best Friend's Girl. He has a producer credit on the movie, but that usually doesn't mean much. He probably just helped to get it financed.

[ edited by kungfubear on 2008-09-09 22:41 ]

kungfubear | September 09, 22:39 CET

Nope, I was wrong. This is actually pretty much spot on the storyline of David's movie.

Ivalaine | September 10, 00:22 CET