‘Perfect Strangers’: the unassuming Italian dramedy that shattered a world record

Posted On December 26, 2024December 26, 2024

Over the years, Hollywood has become overpopulated with remakes and reboots, with studios like Disney and Marvel coming up with endless ways to tell the same story repeatedly. This might sound like an impressive accomplishment, but when you look at the upcoming live-action The Lion King remake, it forces you to contemplate the demise of cinema as a whole when a once vibrant story world looks like a visual cancer.

However, if I asked you which version of the film sprung to mind when I asked you about The Lion King, I’m sure one version would be most prominent. But if I asked you about your thoughts on Perfect Strangers, it would be a nearly impossible task given how many times the film has been rebooted, earning a world record for being the most remade film.

Perfect Strangers was first directed in 2016 and has since been remade 24 times in multiple languages. What makes this even more baffling is how simplistic the storyline is. It follows a dinner party that descends into chaos when someone claims that most couples would break up if they could see what was on the other person’s phone. The couple then carry out an experiment where they share their phones with the rest of the group.

While the premise might not sound groundbreaking, the fact that the film has been remade 23 times in less than ten years is remarkable. Adaptations have been made in countries as diverse as Greece, Mexico, South Korea, India, Japan, China, Vietnam, Armenia, Spain, and Germany, yet it has never been remade in English. Interestingly, the most compelling aspect of the film might not even be the story itself, but the world record it set for remakes. This raises several questions—what is it about this story that captivated so many filmmakers? What makes it so universally appealing?

The film was never remade in English because the rights were bought by the Weinstein brothers, with the company collapsing due to Harvey Weinstein’s insidious trial in which he faced charges for multiple sexual assaults. After the company’s bankruptcy, the rights were acquired by Spyglass Media Group, with Issa Rae being set to star in and write the remake, but Rae is no longer attached to the project, and there haven’t been any further updates.

But the reasoning behind the film’s numerous remakes still sparks many questions. Perhaps it is the simplicity of the plot and adaptability of the story that makes it an easy project to change. An ensemble cast can be extremely versatile and entertaining, as the story will change depending on the cast and characters involved. Because of this, the possibilities are somewhat endless, as the story explores the inner and most private worlds of the character at this dinner party, which can be changed depending on who is at the dinner table.

Shows like The White Lotus depend on this very quality, with the same premise applied to each season but a new set of characters and locations that create an exciting new twist to the story. While it may seem simplistic, sometimes the best stories are the ones that are least complicated in what they aim to achieve, which is perhaps why Perfect Strangers remains the most remade film of all time.

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