I think the problem is how the role of Sugar is reconceived in this version. In the quest to make all women strong and empowered (see also the stage versions of "Tootsie", "Groundhog Day", and many other recent works), they rob these characters of their reality and their dramatic arc. Sugar, as conceived by Billy Wilder is fascinating: she makes bad choices, she drinks too much, she is vulnerable,...And oh, she also like sex, something the current authors seem to find too much for current audiences. The whole wonderful boat scene where Sugar flips the traditional roles and SHE is the one who seduces the Tony Curtis/Christian Borle character, is funny, real, and sexy in the original. In the new version, no seduction happens....and the script heavy-handedly literally spells out for us that DON"T WORRY. NO SEX HAPPENED. As if that would be exploitative for two consenting adults to have sex with each other.
The new authors of this SLIH (and many recent adaptations) may think they have empowered their female characters by removing their bad choices, or neurosis, or vulnerability. But what they have really done is turn interesting, real, flawed, human characters bland and colorless. |
