The first trailer for the new Annie movie was released yesterday starring Quvenzhane Wallis, Jamie Foxx, and Cameron Diaz as Miss Hannigan. God I want it to be good. I want it to be good so bad, SO BAD. But this trailer is scaring the sh-t out of me.
Let’s start with Cameron Diaz. I don’t believe her. I don’t believe that she’s mean. I do believe that she’s desperately trying to act mean but that what she really wants to do is jump up and down on the bed with the children. Which is fine. Except if there’s no tension, if there’s no assumption of fear, of anxiety, of desperation, than Annie’s story doesn’t work, does it?
The chemistry between Wallis and Foxx who play Annie and Stacks is good. I like how she sasses him. I like how he speaks to her. The problem is that some of the dialogue is … hurting me. It’s so heavy on pop culture in a very specific way – and some would say it’s so specific that it’s too much of its time. Yes, what we’re seeing here is very 2014. Does it work in 2020? I’m not saying every film should be timeless and yet, Annie’s story is timeless. So the challenge here is to balance modern with enduring. Of course you have to update the environment, I get it. But the trick is to update it without it letting it get old in a year. This is where we live now. In the world of memes and snapchats, a world that’s so temporary, how do you make something last? Or does that not matter anymore?
