Straw Dogs Remake Trailer or Whatever Happened to Richard White?

Being a Southerner, it's always both amusing and frustrating to see how we're depicted by Hollywood every couple of years. I like a good joke at my home's experience as long as said gag is funny and, of course, I don't take it personal. But then you see more and more portrayals of my neck of the woods from filmmakers, a large portion of whom (not all to be fair) don't even hail from around here and I always wonder, "Is that what you really think of us? If so, would you be OK were I to do stereotypes of you?"

Which brings me to the subject of this article, a trailer for Rob Lurie’s (unnecessary as all Hell) Straw Dogs remake has hit the interwebs via Yahoo! Movies.

As a film fan, I never liked the notion of updating Sam Peckinpah's original but it's never a bad thing to be optimistic that maybe (just...maybe) Lurie could bring something different to the table. Judging by the trailer, the answer is an epic "Nope!"

 It also doesn't help his cause that he hired James Marsden, of all people, in the lead role. Now Marsden has the looks and charm of a leading man but the skills of a character actor. But Lurie & Co. are going out of their way to make him look weak and dweeby. They're clearly going for a Cillian Murphy look. As much as I like Marsden, why didn't they, oh I don't know, get Murphy in the first place? I'm sorry, but I don't buy that Marsden can't hold his own against Alexander Skarsgård and his rag-tag group of sweaty (because all of us down here do nothing but sweat, you know), church-going (and implied Bible-thumping), Kate Bosworth ass-ogling red-necks.