Top American Adaptations of Foreign Movies

Keanu Reeves stars as a soldier returning from World War II whose strained relationship with his new wife is diverted by a beautiful traveler (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón). Circumstances force Reeves’s character to pose as her new husband for her tight-knit Mexican-American family, which leads to its own complications. Acting icons Anthony Quinn and Giancarlo Giannini also appeared in the film, a remake of the Italian movie “Four Steps in the Clouds.”

Robert Sheehan, Dev Patel, and Zoë Kravitz play young people institutionalized for various reasons who take a car from their institution and embark on a road trip to California. The German movie it is based on is about a young man with Tourette’s syndrome who travels to Italy with two other patients to fulfill his late mother’s last wish.

Queen Latifah portrays a woman with a terminal disease who empties out her life savings and goes to Europe to live it up. Among the cast members are LL Cool J as her longtime crush and French acting legend Gérard Depardieu as a famous chef. The original from 1950 stars Alec Guinness and enjoys a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score of 100%.

John C. Reilly plays a con man mentoring a younger man (Diego Luna) as they try to swindle a currency collector by selling him a counterfeit copy of a rare currency bill. Maggie Gyllenhaal appears as Reilly’s sister, who becomes their mark’s love interest. Critics said the reprise was very much like the Argentinean original.

Viewers are in for a major adrenal rush with “The Next Three Days.” Russell Crowe plays the husband of a woman (Elizabeth Banks) who is imprisoned for a murder she claims she didn’t commit. After three years in jail, she becomes suicidal, forcing Crowe to try and free her. Diane Kruger (“National Treasure,” “Inglourious Basterds”) plays the wrongfully sentenced woman in the French original, which has a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 81%.