Is This A Joke?? Brad Pitt’s Brother Remakes SE7EN Into A Buddy Beer Comedy
You’ll never guess what ISN’T in the box
Released in 1995, Se7en remains David Fincher’s darkest movie to date. And holy crap, that’s saying something. Remember, Fincher is the director who made other soul-crushing movies like Gone Girl, Zodiac, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
So for Se7en to basically laugh and say, “Hold my beer…”
Why the ending to Se7en may never be topped
The movie ended — surely it can’t still be a spoiler — with Gwyneth Paltrow’s head in a box, Brad Pitt shooting the man responsible, and Morgan Freeman offering yet another haunting monologue to deliver us into the endless abyss of the credits.
The ending to Se7en takes with it any sense of hope, goodness, and faith left in the audience.
I love it!
I watched endless amounts of thrillers and horror movies when I was a kid. It was the only kind of story that evoked the horror of what my real life felt like.
No one in my family or culty church group was willing to have those conversations with me — outside of telling me which lies to tell — so it fell to movies to teach me how to process loss, grief, and despair.
No wonder I’m so messed up lol
I wish I’d known I could get just as much healing from Dumb & Dumber.
Why I thought there would never be a remake
A great thriller or horror story is great because of the unique experience the stories from each genre evokes. Every now and then an auteur subverts a particular genre, like when Cabin in the Woods revealed what kind of person you are by whether you think it has a happy ending.
This is just, like, my opinion. But it’s one based on over a decade of research into the science of storytelling (offsite to interview with Authors AI).
To me, the only difference between a thriller and a horror story is in the final payoff.
In a thriller, no matter how hopeless the situation seems, the heroes will find a way forward that in the end feels like victory.
In a horror story, no matter how hopeful the situation seems, the heroes must make sacrifices that cause any victory to feel like it wasn’t worth it. Not for a second.
In that sense, a good thriller can make even a seeming loss feel like a well-deserved victory. Just like a good horror movie can make even a seeming victory feel like a devastating loss.
I can’t live in a place that embraces apathy as a virtue
The depth of grief at the end of Se7en hit audiences so hard, we’re still feeling it to this day. How could anyone ever provide a more powerful experience? Even if they could, wouldn’t it be as silly as putting Superman into a horror movie?
It’s the reason I’ll tell ya that Se7en may as well be a horror story. Not a thriller. It helps us spend time with an unresolvable feeling of grief, the sort that almost all of us will meet at least once in our lives.
Stories like Se7en help us go back to the real world empowered to process real loss.
Who would have thought that turning Se7en into a buddy beer comedy could somehow bring audiences even deeper into that therapeutic experience?
Doug Pitt is better at Trojan horses than his brother Brad
“What’s in the box?” Doug shouts in the video, titled 6ix. “Tell me what’s in the flippin’ box!”
In the original movie, Mills tragically finds the head of his wife Tracy, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, inside the box. This time around the contains contain booze rather than blood — specifically Mother’s Brewing’s new Doin’ Good orange wheat ale. — “Brad Pitt’s Brother Doug Plays the Actor’s Se7en Character in a Beer Ad Parody”
Except that short summary doesn’t prepare you for the horror of this short film’s own beer-based ending. You may want to crack one open before you hit play. You only think you know what is — and isn’t — in the box.
Why does this commercial work so well?
The comedy in this super-short advert subverts the ominous music as much as the ominous nostalgia. In the end, that kind of makes sense though, doesn’t it? The greatest comedic actors are often the greatest dramatic actors.
Think of actors like Robin Williams who transcend any genre. Their performances help us process our deepest emotions. They just choose to most often make us laugh.
I think that’s partly why this commercial is so effective — because it’s so funny! In an odd way, adding earned laughter in this parody helped me process just how much the original movie has haunted me since 1995.
It makes me wish Doug would do more comedic remakes like this of his brother Brad’s other movies.
The ending to that wishful thinking is sadder than Se7en
Unfortunately, Doug Pitt is way too busy running his Care to Learn foundation (offsite to CtL), as well as serving as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Republic of Tanzania and the director of WorldServe International, a charity that aims to provide water and sanitation solutions in developing countries.
Obviously all of that is much more important than winning an Oscar, but I’m just saying…
Surely someone who reads this article can slip a little whisper into his ear?
