Here’s the poster I’m talking about. When I saw it I assumed there would be a scene at some point in the movie where Melissa McCarthy was painted gold for some silly reason.
But I saw the movie yesterday and that never happened. So now I’m guessing they painted her character gold in the poster for some other reason. Is it supposed to be a reference to another movie? I know there was a woman who was painted gold in Goldfinger but this image doesn’t seem to be evoking that.
Eh, it’s an okay joke. I mean, it’s not laugh out loud funny, but it does a good job of communicating what the movie is about in a relatively simple image. Instead of a half-naked supermodel painted gold, it’s Melissa McCarthy dressed like a housewife. At the same time, despite being gold-plated, she’s not dead. To the contrary, she’s adopted a classic Bond pose, using Bond’s signature gun. So, it’s signaling that the film is a Bond parody, and that it’s going to work with some of the tropes in the Bond films around the sexualization of women, their secondary importance as compared to Bond, and their generally disposable nature in the franchise.
Yeah, I have no idea who the actress is or what this movie is, but looking at the poster, I assume it’s some sort of espionage comedy flick. So, given the above, it seems to have communicated its intent well.
If this is their idea of a joke, I would say it does a pretty good job of communicating if the movie is going to be funny - or not. You can either be painted gold like in Goldfinger even though you are a frump, or you can pose with the pistol like James Bond even though you are a frump. You can’t do both, or the joke is too unfocussed.
As I’ve said I disagree. Up to a point you’re right. Having somebody who doesn’t fit the action hero mold posing in a stereotypical action hero pose is good parody. Johnny English got it right.
But painting Melissa McCarthy’s character gold makes no sense as parody. Like I said, it’s the kind of thing Friedberg and Seltzer would do.