Annie (2014)
Directed by Will Gluck
Annie is a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her someday, it's been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan. But everything's about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks—advised by his brilliant VP and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor—makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he's her guardian angel, but Annie's self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean it's the other way around.
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What critics compared Annie to
Cowriter (with Aline Brosh McKenna, "The Devil Wears Prada")/director Will Gluck ("Easy A," "Friends with Benefits") starts with a nod to his source material, filling his screen with red-haired curly moppet Annie A., before his update's star, "Beasts of the Southern Wild's" Quvenzhané Wallis as Annie B., goes to the front of her class to give her interactive history report performance of an FDR bio with 'Stomp-like' percussion.
From this viewer's perspective, however, director Will Gluck (2010's " Easy A ") and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna (2011's " We Bought a Zoo ") have done just about everything right, holding deserved reverence for the original musical while putting a vibrantly inspired, unmistakably contemporary spin on it.
Yes, this Annie is African-American, but thankfully director/co-writer Will Gluck ("Friends with Benefits," "Easy A") doesn't equate that change with racial stereotypes or an offensive need to hip-hopify the story.
Brought on to write and direct is Will Gluck, who found success with the overrated Easy A .
Which brings us to Will Gluck, best known for sleazy sex comedies (“Easy A,” “Friends with Benefits”) who is probably the last person who should have been trusted with “Annie.”
Directed by Will Gluck (“Friends With Benefits,” “Easy A”) from a script by him and Aline Brosh McKenna, the new “Annie” tries to update the 1978 Broadway musical warhorse with ethnic diversity, big stars, revamped characterizations, and watery R&B arrangements of the songs.
Cowriter (with Aline Brosh McKenna, "The Devil Wears Prada")/director Will Gluck ("Easy A," "Friends with Benefits") starts with a nod to his source material, filling his screen with red-haired curly moppet Annie A., before his update's star, "Beasts of the Southern Wild's" Quvenzhané Wallis as Annie B., goes to the front of her class to give her interactive history report performance of an FDR bio with 'Stomp-like' percussion.
Yes, this Annie is African-American, but thankfully director/co-writer Will Gluck ("Friends with Benefits," "Easy A") doesn't equate that change with racial stereotypes or an offensive need to hip-hopify the story.
Which brings us to Will Gluck, best known for sleazy sex comedies (“Easy A,” “Friends with Benefits”) who is probably the last person who should have been trusted with “Annie.”
Directed by Will Gluck (“Friends With Benefits,” “Easy A”) from a script by him and Aline Brosh McKenna, the new “Annie” tries to update the 1978 Broadway musical warhorse with ethnic diversity, big stars, revamped characterizations, and watery R&B arrangements of the songs.
Screenwriters Will Gluck ( Friends With Benefits ) and Aline Brosh McKenna ( The Devil Wears Prada ) have failed miserably in their attempts to take this classic tale, which was originally set in the Great Depression, and adapt it to a current day setting.
Director Will Gluck, whose previous films include the witty teen comedy Easy A and the sexy relationship farce Friends With Benefits , had never directed a musical before.