“Johnny Larson” an all-white remake of the LDS cult classic film. “Johnny Lingo” premiered earlier this week at the Sundance Film Festival. 

When asked to comment director Vencer Allred said, “Please stop calling it an all-white remake, it’s a colorblind, Utah-centric remake.” and, “I didn’t realize only white people would audition.”

The film reimagines the tale of Johnny Lingo and his eight-cow wife, as a love story in a Utah college town, where “Mackennla” realizes her true worth after Johnny buys her roommates eight boxes of diet coke for a chance to date her.

In a departure from the original work, Mackennla is not explicitly told that she is ugly by any characters. Allred felt that that perpetuated harmful stereotypes about beauty culture. Instead, Mackennla has naturally low self-esteem because “girls are just like that sometimes.”

The film was well-received by one specific demographic. Brylee Olsen said, “It was so nice to finally be able to see someone who looked like me in media.” She added, “It’s also such an empowering film for young women, like yes girl, you are an eight-coke wife!”

Olsen’s view was not endorsed by everyone, with critics saying, “I thought Sundance films were supposed to be good.” and “Why did they think this was a good idea?”