Britt's On

I actually finished this book a week or two ago, but I'm just getting around to dreamcasting for it. I'm on the fence as to whether I'd like to see John Green's work in films. In my opinion, good YA fiction typically gets ruined on the big screen because they are pandering to teenage audiences, when in fact, many (slightly) older folks like myself like them as well.

Anyway. An Abundance of Katherines is a great book. It's much funnier and lighter than Looking for Alaska, but also a tad on the frivolous side as a result. But I did laugh out loud, and that's hard to do. I'm casting five roles for this one, although two are kind of random, and one is probably not right at all based on the age of the character.

The book, for the record, is about a child prodigy named Colin that has just graduated high school and is skeptical about his prospects in college. He also has a habit of only dating girls named Katherine, having had 19 relationships with Katherines over the years. He goes on a road trip with his best friend Hassan, and they end up in a strange little town in Tennessee called Gutshot. The book is about moving on, growing up, and having a eureka! moment.

So here are my picks for An Abundance of Katherines movie casting.

COLIN
I didn't really have someone in mind for Colin, to be honest. He came off as very generic in the book, although some part of me thinks he may have had curly hair, I honestly don't really care. I basically just pictured someone that could play a kind of obnoxious nerd but still be semi-attractive, or else how do you explain the 19 girlfriends? Jesse Eisenberg would have been choice 1 a few years ago, Penn Badgeley would have been number two. They're both too old now though.

Best known for playing RJ Berger on The Hard Times of RJ Berger, a sort of American Pie-esque MTV comedy that I actually quite enjoyed when I caught an episode, but it never really went anywhere. Sad face. He looks pretty attractive here, which makes me think he can pull off Colin's nerdiness, but also be good-looking enough to nab a girl (or twenty).

I don't know why I didn't think of Brendan before - ie when I was reading the book - because now, a week after finishing the book, I think he'd be perfect for the part. Brendan plays lovable doormat Lucas on Pretty Little Liars: the nerdy boy you wish the pretty girl would wake up and date already (especially since I suspect Tyler Blackburn, who plays said pretty girl's paramour, is probably off to bigger and better things). He's good at handling the whip-smart dialogue that Colin has, and has a nice neurotic streak, but he's also endearingly sweet and winsome...something that this character really needs.

HASSAN
Colin's best friend is described as Lebanese, overweight, lazy as all hell, a huge fan of Judge Judy, and ultimately a funny, amicable guy. This was SO EASY to cast, it actually probably lent itself well to me thinking the book was as funny as it was.