I love Thomas Lennon. I used to think he was a comic genius after THE STATE and the great RENO 911. Then, I was watching the crappy movie "The Pacifier" with my kids, and I could not believe it when I saw his name as the writer. For someone so gifted I can not believe that he has written such crap as "The Pacifier", "Taxi", and "Herbie". Plus, he also wrote the orignial script for "Starsky and Hutch." Where are his talents when he decides to write a screenplay?
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sharesome people can be talented performers but not have one iota of comedy writing ability and vice-versa.
Why else do you not see Dave Chapelle's former writing partner, Noah Brennanman doing his own stand-up?
Thomas Lennon is certainly not a horrible screenwriter.
Yes, he was credited as a screenwriter on a number of lousy films, but the same can be said of almost any working writer in Hollywood these days, because in Hollywood, no one ever trusts the writer -- no one ever just follows the screenplay and makes the movie as it's written. Instead, dozens of producers, distributors, agents, marketers, accountants, lawyers, focus group coordinators and studio executives all demand endless changes at every stage in the process, including once the movie has already started filming. Often times movies that start out with good screenplays wind up blatantly incomprehensible by the time they're done just because so many people are involved and making changes, all with different agendas. This is especially true with extremely commerical films like the ones you list, where there's no pretense that anyone's going to be making fine art.
By Hollywood standards, Lennon is still an unestablished writer. It's obvious to me he takes the projects he can get both to make money and to further his career. So if he applied for the job when Disney decided they wanted to remake a 1960s children's film about a talking car and then turned in the tame, by-the-numbers kiddie script they were looking for, it hardly makes him a bad writer. And if he was able to just write the bloody script and sign off on it, without really worrying about what was likely to be done to it after the fact, more power to him. Obviously, Lennon does a good job as a writer when he's given the opportunity to work on projects that he cares about, ie, the State, Reno 911, Viva Variety, Strangers with Candy and the like. It's sad that his name has to be on the stuff that's just about paying the rent, but that's life.
I totally agree and was going to make the same point.
leave the dudes alone. until you read what they wrote, you can't say they are horrible.
plus he needs to make money. i doubt that the reno crew is paid that well. its his bread and butter.
Neil. Brennan.
shareLee Bailey, with everything you said, it proved absolutely nothing.
"Thomas Lennon is certainly not a horrible screenwriter. "
Ok, now this is where you provide information why, instead of saying that there was a possibility that they might not have followed a script exactly as it was supposed to.
The information was stated when they mentioned his work with Reno911, the State and Strangers with Candy
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