It’s a terrible mark on society that gay marriage is barely squeaking through the door of accepted behavior, while gay parenting can’t even see the door yet. And even though cinema allows for all manners of storytelling to exist, not a lot of gay parenting stories are being told. Thankfully, popular TV shows like Modern Family and The New Normal are shining a spotlight on it, so it was only a matter of time before Hollywood got the hint.
Taking a hint from Swedish filmmaker Ella Lemhagen, THR says that Fox 2000 is bringing the hit Swedish dramedy Patrik, Age 1.5 to American theaters, via a remake that they’ve signed screenwriter Allan Loeb to pen the script for. Loeb is responsible for the screenplays for such painfully unsubtle films as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Just Go With It, Rock of Ages and most recently, the "Kevin James as an MMA fighter" flick Here Comes the Boom. It’s frightening to think of what could possibly happen to this material in Loeb’s hands.
The Swedish film tells the story of a male gay couple who adopt what they think is an 18-month old child – thus the titular 1.5 – but it turns out to be a 15-year-old homophobic asshole, and they’re left to deal with him while the typographical error is sorted out. It isn’t hard to imagine what the overall arc for this film will be, but there’s a wide margin between hilariously heartwarming and ludicrously exploitative where this subject matter is concerned.
Considering Loeb has worked on films with both Adam Sandler and Kevin James, who played a married couple in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, is it too early to start up a petition against either of these actors appearing in this remake?
