It is what it is...the book was better

Rating: 5/10 (1 October 2016)

If I watch a movie based on a book, I prefer to see it before reading. Here's a movie I watched after reading Ben Mezrich's Bringing Down the House, and I wish it was vice-versa. The book was compelling but the movie was sort of okay, and I guess it tried to be a piece of art on its own.
Much has been made about the "whitewashing" of the cast, as some of the real life college students in Ben's book are of Chinese descent. The accusations of whitewashing are fair enough, and it's a shame the cast wasn't more reflective of the real life characters.
But hey, Hollywood is unfortunately replete with such whitewashing type examples. Valkyrie I don't think had any Germans in the cast. It was pretty much Americans and Brits playing Germans. The director wasn't German! Also in Schindler's List, same deal, no Germans in the lead roles. Similarly, Hogan's Heroes didn't have any Germans in the cast - in fact quite ironically some of the Nazis were played by Jewish actors. Also in in 'Allo 'Allo, no Germans were featured - all Brits played the Germans. Nary a German actor in Raiders of the Lost Ark. So unfortunately Germans are being whitewashed out of casting roles sadly.