Oh, correction! She DOES play Vin's love interest. Carla was
suppossed to play her role, but it apparently fell through. This comes froms someone on IMDB who knows one of the actors playing one of the kids I think.
ETA:
An early script review. Basically, it's predictable family friendly fare, and it's success depends on Vin's comedic skills. Safe to say if Lauren does indeed play his love interest, they'll probably end up together in the end. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
Quote:
The Stax Report: Script Review of The Pacifier
Vin Diesel's new comedy from the director of Bringing Down the House!
February 05, 2004 - Stax here with my reaction to the screenplay for The Pacifier! This Buena Vista-based project will star Vin Diesel and be directed by Adam Shankman (Bringing Down the House) from a script by actor-screenwriters Thomas Lennon and and Robert Ben Garant (both of Comedy Central's Reno 911!). According to Variety, the Spyglass Entertainment project begins filming this April in Los Angeles.
Some minor SPOILERS follow but there's nothing that the trailer won't end up revealing, I assure you:
The Pacifier is a comedy about Navy Seal Lt. Shane Wolfe (Diesel) who goes on his most complicated and perilous mission yet: child care. After leading a failed operation to rescue kidnapped government scientist Charles Plummer, Shane is given a chance to redeem himself by undertaking a new mission.
Shane's commander, Capt. Bill Fawcett, informs him that the bad guys who kidnapped Plummer were after GHOST, a top-secret computer program that the scientist was working on.
This "McGuffin" is believed to be hidden somewhere in Fawcett's suburban home although searches have so far proven fruitless. Shane's mission is to protect the Plummer family from the bad guys who are still after GHOST.
The Plummer family includes mom Julie, eldest teenage daughter Zoe, the sullen and artistically inclined Todd, precocious six year-old Lulu, toddler Peter, and baby Bobby. They also have a Romanian housekeeper named Helga.
Julie leaves her kids in Shane's charge after learning that a safety deposit box her husband kept in Switzerland might contain GHOST. Shane can establish a perimeter and kick tail but this Seal is completely unprepared for what follows: taking care of children and doing housework.
In learning about kids the hard way, our tough guy protagonist softens up. He also finds what has been missing in his life (a family) and they in return discover a surrogate father figure. Naturally, Shane's military prowess proves handy when the villains finally come looking for GHOST. (That's not surprising, is it?)
The Pacifier is the quintessential high-concept comedy. What if xXx's Xander Cage parachuted into Daddy Day Care? The script runs solely on that one-note but not entirely unappealing premise. I never actually laughed when I read it but I did crack a grin a few times.
Such comedic vehicles usually live or die based on which star it has been tailored for. Arnold Schwarzenegger was able to make the leap to high-concept comedy (with Twins and Kindergarten Cop) but Sylvester Stallone was not. (Bruce Willis came from a sitcom background so his challenge was in making the leap to action films.) The Rock seems to have a natural flair for comedy not that it's helped him much at the box office. We know Vin Diesel can be tough and surly but can he also make us laugh? The effectiveness of this script's humor depends on that.
Was The Pacifier formulaic and predictable? Yes, right down to its obligatory diaper changing scene. But there was some heart there, too. The seemingly indomitable Shane Wolfe (as in lone wolf?) is actually a vulnerable, sensitive teddy bear. Sure, it's all very pat but such stories rely on simplicity.
The Pacifier should likely connect with general audiences who just want to snack on familiar junk food for a few hours. In the immortal words of Jon Lovitz as Harvey Fierstein, is that so wrong? – STAX
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[img]smilies/lol.gif[/img] I was reading a message board of international Vin fans and they were talking about Lauren (from this pic) and the fact that they like he's got a love interest who isn't 20, and who's actually closer to his age. They also said she looked like Catherine Zeta Jones.
[ 04-09-2004: Message edited A. B. Normal ]