There Can Be Only Uno: Mattel to Make Popular Card Game Into a Movie, but Could They Do Better?
When Hollywood needs an idea for a hit movie, anything can provide inspiration.
Seriously…anything. For example, Uno. Yes, the card game Uno.
The Mattel company has a live-action heist comedy in development that is based on the popular card game. It will be written by Marcy Kelly and set in the underground hip hop world of Atlanta with Grammy-nominated rapper Lil Yachty up for a starring role, according to Deadline.
While it may be unfathomable to some (or all) how a game without much of a plot can be turned into a heist movie, somebody thinks they can do it. Perhaps there’s a story in there somewhere; the frustration you feel when your fellow players hit you with a dozen skip or reverse cards in a row, or in the glee you feel when you finally get to deploy that Draw Four wild card on your bratty sister just as she’s about to go out. Who knows?
What we do know is that there are other games in your rec room cupboard that would make much better movies, so indulge us while we storyboard a few of our better ideas here.
Guess Who?
How is this not already a movie? This one is a no-brainer. In this game you’re the detective, and your cast of characters are all suspects. Ask the right questions and eliminate the innocent. Eventually you determine whodunnit. And look at all that diversity in the gallery of characters! Two or three of them are not white guys. It’s like the Hollywood powers-that-be created this game, right?
Monopoly
While Monopoly has a built-in storyline of greedy landlords running amok and bankrupting their fellow citizens based on nothing more than the luck of the dice (hey, just like real life!) isn’t the real story a little more meta? Doesn’t everyone have that one friend or family member who plays the game a little too aggressively? Sure everyone does. It can’t just be me, right? Carry that idea to its logical conclusion and you have the motive for…murder. Surely we can all relate to that feeling, and this author isn’t alone in incriminating herself. Right?
Euchre
Intrigue, suspense, royalty…euchre has all that in spades. (Sorry.) If they can avoid the ‘trump’ puns, a writer could craft a story about warring kings, queens and, um, jacks battling for tabletop superiority. Think epic, big budget, Lord of the Rings kind of battles. There will be tricks galore (up to ten!) as one suit fights for the right to rule them all.
Hungry Hungry Hippos
Deep in sub-Saharan Africa, the third-most dangerous species of animal waits at the bottom of the river. Or on land. Hippos are pretty versatile. And hungry. Though they are herbivores, the hippopotamus can mess you up if you make it angry. So imagine an aggrieved hippo that’s two stories tall…and hungry. It only takes one nuclear accident in the vicinity of an African river (or your city’s zoo) and the next thing you know, these kaiju river horses are flattening buildings left and right.
Old Maid
It’s time to throw a romcom in the mix. Sure, a card game about a lonely old woman could be adapted into a drama or even a mystery, but why not a love story? Old maids need love too. With an entire deck of eligible suit-ors, this is one tale that has a lot of heart(s). With the right cast (think Helen Mirren as the lead, opposite, say, a silver fox like Pierce Brosnan) this elderly chick flick is total Oscar-bait.
Mousetrap
Mousetrap is a Rube Goldberg-ian game that requires that players work together to create the device and then turn on each other as they race to be the first to trap a mouse. It won’t take much to make this into a thriller with two spy gadget-making adversaries forced to work together to create a plot device that will foil a common enemy. Cast one American actor and one actor from our traditional movie enemy countries (Russia, China, the Middle East, etc.) as the two agents and Mousetrap: Deus Ex Machina is box office gold.
Othello
Not everything is black and white in Othello. Puns may be the lowest form of humor, but they are hard to resist. Not to be confused with the beloved Shakespearean play, this Othello is all about strategy. This cerebral thriller will be all about not getting backed into a corner as you try to force your opponent’s hand. Or something. Look, they can’t all be winners.
Life
Lastly, there’s this slice of life. Life the game is all about the mundane: go to school, get a job, buy some insurance, marriage, kids, retirement and then the sweet release of death, presumably. But the actual goal in Life is to become a millionaire, and that’s pretty exciting. And as this is a movie, there’s no reason the characters can’t cheat their way to the top. (This is how life actually works a lot of the time, as you may have noticed.) Make this a madcap romp where a disparate group of relatives have one month to fulfill the crazy demands of their dead great-grandfather’s will and you have a killer comedy. Cast a bevy of A-listers and top-tier character actors and make them get hitched, adopt some kids, buy property and whatnot and it’ll be a blockbuster.
Come on, Hollywood, try a little harder. Get one of these movies in the theaters soon, or at least before Mattel is optioning Dos.