Oh, our aching sides. With the seemingly unstoppable advance of a host of Scary Movies and pretenders like Date Movie and Epic Movie (talk about spoofing what it says on the tin, eh?), the Weinstein Company have snapped up a new script called Dirty Step Stomp, riffing on that modern plague, the dance movie.
Yes, another (half)witty comedy is on the way, with likely targets including the immortal (but surely so-cheesy-it's-a-spoof-of-itself) Dirty Dancing, the original teen dance hit Save The Last Dance and so-recent-the-money's-still-being-counted US box office winners like **Step Up **and Stomp The Yard. We'd be amazed if Honey and Flashdance don't get a look in as well, and hey! Probably The Godfather too, actually, given how closely modern spoofs stay to their target genre.
The script's been written by Steve Basilone and Annie Mebane. His only previous writing credit appears to be a TV show called 'Almost Funny' (oh, hold us back from the obvious response), while she wrote and directed a TV documentary about a high school debating team. There's no cast or director yet, but expect to see the film in about five minutes, given the speed with which these things are turned out.
Now we've been very cynical, but maybe we're being unfair. Maybe this will be the funny exception that proves the rule. Maybe Leslie Nielsen will star as the tough hoodlum whose natural sense of rhythm helps him find a way out of the 'hood and into the arms of a beautiful ballet student. Maybe. Oh, who are we kidding? Bring back Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, all is forgiven; even Jane Austen's Mafia!