Genre: Sci-Fi Comedy
Premise: (from Black List) A down-on-his-luck high school senior discovers that the old roadside diner outside of town is secretly a hangout for parallel universe travelers. He sets off on a mind-bending adventure across the multiverse that takes him beyond his wildest dreams.
About: Another short story adaptation? Do people even write pure specs anymore? Today’s script finished number 5 on the 2018 Black List and is the script on that list I was most looking forward to reading. It seems to be at least partly inspired by one of the most famous unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, The Tourist. This script also proves that wasting time on the internet doesn’t always amount to a waste of time. As co-writer Steve Desmond puts it, “I was bored because Michael had to be a father. I went down an Internet rabbit hole that led to the short story. I loved it. I sent it to Michael, and he loved it. We started brainstorming immediately about what the movie could be. Fortunately, we were able to secure an option from the author directly ourselves. also the offshoot of wasting time.”
Writers: Steve Desmond & Michael Sherman (based on the short story by Lawrence Watt-Evans)
Details: 110 pages
What in the…
Have you guys heard the Ghostbusters news? They’re making a direct sequel to the second film and it’s being directed by Jason Reitman, the son of Ivan Reitman, who, of course, directed the first movie.
This is BONKERS. First off, it’s a direct admittance that the studio screwed up with the all-female Ghostbusters. By moving away from that and back to the original property, that’s the closest you’re going to get to a studio saying, “Yeah, we effed that one up.”
But just as baffling is the fact that Jason “I only make slow indie dramas that nobody sees” Reitman is directing the film. There is nothing on his resume that would imply he’s right for this movie. When he told his dad about his idea for the film, his dad said, “I was crying at the end.” Um, Ghostbusters isn’t supposed to make people cry!!!
I’m both excited and terrified because we’re finally getting a true Ghostbusters threequel but we’re getting it from the man who couldn’t find an audience if you placed him in the middle of Times Square. Curiously absent from the press release is whether Bill Murray is involved. I suppose we’ll find that out soon. This is easily the most shocking movie news I’ve heard in months.
Ghostbusters provides us a perfect segue into today’s script, which exists in the same spiritual universe as that film. There’s a long history of supernatural and science-fiction comedy films doing gangbusters box office. Might Harry’s Hamburgers be the next in line?
17 year-old Andy lives in a dead-end town with dead-end future prospects. Andy’s life started going south when he was 9. That’s when he struck out during the championship Little League game. Didn’t even swing the bat. Then there’s that moment he could’ve kissed the love of his life, Piper, only to chicken out at the last second. Now she’s in love with some popular jock.
Andy wishes more than anything he could go back and change those moments. Lucky for him, that moment arrives. Sort of. Andy gets a night-shift job at a strange old 50’s diner called Harry’s All Night Hamburgers. He knows something’s off about this place on the first night. That’s when three gorgeous topless women walk in and ask for a table. Eventually, Harry, the owner, explains that this joint is for multi-verse travelers.
When Andy learns that each universe is completely different from our own (in some they breed dinosaurs, in others they’ve experienced the apocalypse) he gets the jumping bug. But Harry warns him. There’s no way to get back to your original universe. Andy jumps anyway and lucks out. In his first alternate universe, he’s popular and dating Piper. But just as he’s about to have sex with her, the Andy from that universe arrives and our Andy is forced to flee. Hmm, this multi-verse thing is going to be tougher than he thought.
Andy starts jumping from universe to universe, only to encounter messy obstacles along the way. No matter what he does, he can’t seem to get Piper. And even worse, he doesn’t know if he wants to. The Piper he wants is back in his universe. But there’s no way to get back there. Or is there? Andy starts flipping through universes like satellite TV channels, hoping to get home by sheer will. But with each passing jump, he realizes he may have made a mistake he can never correct.
The great thing about Harry’s All Night Hamburgers is that it’s written with love. One of the best pieces of screenwriting advice I’ve ever gotten is to write about subject matter you love. Or write a movie you would love to see. Because you’re going to go all out in your attempts to make that script work. Whereas, with subject matter you’re only kinda into, you’re not going to give it your all. There’s not a single moment in Harry’s All Night Hamburgers where these writers aren’t having fun.
Here’s my issue with the script, though. The influences are too influential. Part of screenwriting is understanding where the line is between being influenced and rewriting your favorite films. Every time this script seemed like it was going to become its own thing, it would resort back to an influence. We’ve got Groundhog Day. Men in Black. Sliders. Field of Dreams. And lots and lots of Back to the Future. The parallels between Andy and Harry and Marty and Doc are excessive to say the least.
Also, the execution of our hero’s flaw goes sideways. The reason this is a big deal is because the script leans heavily on emotion. And a big portion of a movie’s emotion is derived from your hero overcoming their flaw. When Will Hunting finally stops trying to project this tough guy image and breaks down to his therapist, that’s when the emotional journey of that film reaches its climax.
Here, Andy introduces himself by saying he wishes he would’ve swung at the ball, kissed the girl he loved. But a movie about parallel universes doesn’t provide an opportunity for that flaw to be corrected. Had this been a time-travel movie or a start-over movie, he would’ve gotten to face his flaw head on. But instead, we’re in these parallel universes where the script struggles to marry these two elements. Sometimes it gets close (there’s a universe without an Andy, which means he gets to reinvent himself to the town), but it always felt off.
And look, I’m not saying this stuff is easy. Sometimes you have a really cool concept and a really great emotional through-line, but they don’t link up. And it sucks because you know they work individually. They just don’t work with each other. And what most writers will do – and I’ve done this plenty of times myself – is write them anyway and try to make them work through brute force. Ten drafts and two years later, changing one of the two becomes impossible. And that seems to have happened here.
So how did this script succeed in spite of this problem? Because the idea is so damn good. The title alone is a movie title. I can imagine 10 different versions of the poster that would catch my attention at the theater. And as I pointed out above, there’s a ton of love on the page. Andy is an impossible character not to root for. The character goal is strong. The stakes are clear. The structure is solid. I can tell these writers have been writing for a long time. They know how to write a professional screenplay. I think my expectations for this script might have hindered my enjoyment a bit. But the silver lining is that high-concept science fiction scripts like this are still getting attention in Hollywood.
[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[x] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned: I’ll leave today’s advice to one of the writers of the script, Michael Sherman: “Don’t give up! It took us 17 scripts, a lot of years, and a lot of hours. But I can truly say that it’s been worth it.”
