Oho, them be fightin’ words! Denigrate stupid comedies with plots and jokes made for 10-year-olds if you will, but leave Dodgeball out of it! One of the smartest movies of 2004.
This movie was really bad. I no longer speak to the person who told me to rent this because they thought it was so good.
Then why not, if you’re already hauling a camera crew halfway around the world, make a film which shows us what’s actually going on as opposed to writing a fictionalized script by an American from an American perspective before he makes the trip? Worse, the fictionalized story is not so deeply out there as to be implausible. The lost opportunity there to make a better movie (even cheaper in all likelihood!) seems huge to me.
Incidentally I didn’t realize this wasn’t a doc at first because I usually avoid reviews in the local papers for the very reason that they do give away all of the plot points, and the brief one I initially saw gave no indication it was a fictional tale. When I looked up movie times on a website I happened to see “Starring [actor] as [character]” and I thought “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Maybe he likes to make comedies instead of documentaries. Maybe it will sell better as fiction, how should I know?
Aren’t movie plots supposed to be plausible? I usually ding movies that aren’t.
How do you know it isn’t better than what you think it is? You know, there’s a bit of truth in that saying “don’t judge a book by its cover.”
I’m not trying to defend the movie - I haven’t seen it either. I’m just saying your synopsis of what the movie is about (posted above) is at direct odds with what Albert Brooks is saying in interviews.
I hated Armageddon until I watched it as a comedy. Then I enjoyed it.
Besides, any movie where Bruce Willis chases Ben Affleck with a shotgun is worth it.
I would say the following:
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There’s no reason a documentary can’t be funny.
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A good number of movie plots are fantastic (Battlefield Earth, Narnia, you name it). This movie is supposed to be for thinking people to consider a real word situation which currently confronts us… but for some reason is fictionalizing it through the eyes of other Americans.
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I initially credited the movie with being better than average because the premise of someone finding a common human emotion in the real world sounded great. The premise of Albert Brooks fictionalizing what he thinks comedy in the Muslim world might possibly look like based upon… who knows… is a lesser concept. I suppose I should underline here that I’ve worked in a couple of very different Muslim societies with different takes on comedy, and I can’t imagine that Brooks could possibly capture any of that with a script written by stateside Americans before they get out of the country, no matter what he’s claiming in interviews. I don’t imagine he’s going to go on Terry Gross and say “Hey I pulled this outta my butt for a few larfs!”
Criticize my critiques away, I’ll drop my end of that particular argument in this thread. (Incidentally I don’t have any problem with anyone else being pissed off by particular movies for any reason; it is what it is, we all have our own opinions.)
While typing this I’ll say the vast majority of mafia movies piss me off because they usually depict the criminals as dapper, smart and nearly omnipotent. In reality the mob, at least in this part of the world, is box-of-rocks dumb, sloppy, gaudy and semi-competent.
There’s a part in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Rouge (Red) where one character recommends Dead Poet’s Society to another. I’d love to know if Kieslowski really liked the film and wanted to throw in a tribute to it, or he was being ironic.
Even worse, most Mob movies gloss over what the Mob actually does. In The Godfather, we see a lot of noble and ignoble battles between several houses at variance, but we never see what they’re fighting over: Turf in which to extort merchants, rake off union dues, hijack trucks, run prostitutes, etc.
Exception to both objections: Goodfellas. Best Mob movie ever. Stupid brutal crooks doing their stupid brutal crooked things stupidly and brutally.
Has anyone mentioned The Forgotten yet? I hate this movie like I have never hated any other movie in my entire life. The twist in this one is the lamest cop out to ever be recycled. Shoddy writing at its worst.
My second most hated film of all time is The Notebook. What was the point of this movie? The ending is telegraphed in the first ten minutes. From that point forward is another 143 minutes of excruciatingly painful dialog.
I hope that special places in hell are reserved for writers who feel the need to recycle old plots for new movies (as opposed to remakes, which I will get to in a minute). To wit, Firewall. It was better when it was called Ransom. There seems to be a veritable plethora of movies out lately that fit into this genre (for want of a better word). Why do writers feel the need to do this? Are they just lazy? Do they think that since a plot made money the first time that lightning will strike twice?
Remakes. What the f*ck is up with this? Do Matt Damon and his butt buddy really think they can do a better job with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid than Newman and Redford. Why are they bothering? Didn’t they get an award for original writing? Was that a fluke?
My wife refuses to sit with me during the previews at the theater anymore. She will conveniently be out getting the popcorn while I make sarcastic comments about each preview and the fact that it was better when it was called so-and-so, or that it had been done before.
Even better, IMO: Donnie Brasco, where the mob is depicted as a bunch of glorified street hoods waiting around for some goon who imagines himself as nobility to tell them what unspeakable acts to perform.
I can’t believe this thread is still going. It’s easily my most successful thread to date. I don’t have any to add. I recently watched Alien vs. Predator, The Gift, and Corpse Bride. I liked all three to some degree or another (I was expecting AvP to be really bad, so it was actually better than I expected and I was able to enjoy it.) Corpse Bride was the best of the three.
Before this thread dies, I just remembered the Classic Movie that pissed me off royally when I first saw it as a little kid: “Ben-Hur”. Yeah the chariot race is great. What pissed me off was Jesus healing BenHur’s mother & sister of leprosy. Why them, I asked, in my childishness? why them, and not all the other lepers??? To my little kid mind it sure seemed like Jesus was playing favorites, and I got so pissed off I just couldn’t stand the movie.
I think they were just being faithful to the book. It’s been 20 years since I’ve read it so I’m not 100% sure.
Nobody has mentioned the soooo unfunny Napoleon Dynamite? My bil made us watch this dreck at Christmas. The only times I laughed was when ND fell over the fence, and his brother’s wedding to LaFawnduh. (that duh is very appropriate). The oldest son has no life other than the Internet, the youngest son is a chapstick obsessed H.S outcast, and the uncle hasn’t realised that the '70’s are over.
Total waste of film and time. That’s 2 hours of my life that I can’t get back.
My usual complaint: Pearl Harbor. I’ve ranted about it before, and wont waste time, now. If you’re interested in my views, search for my name and “pearl harbor.”
Also, Millenium Man pissed me off.
Oddly enough, not because of anything with Asimov’s story. Nor the characters. It was trite, but I expected that.
What got my goat was two-effing-hundred years in the future there’s exactly one person shown on screen who’s not pretty and white. For pity’s sake - that doesn’t even describe America of 1976, let alone now. How much trouble would it have been to simply have a few people of non-white heritage show up on screen? Hmmm?
:: shudder ::
How long was that in the cinemas? A week?
In fact it pissed me off so much, I forgot the title. :smack:
Likewise “The Bridges of Madison County” irked me to no end.
No duller than watching “Our Town” a second time
Here, here!
And Steve Vai’s performance as Jack Butler ROCKED! His dejected look when Ralph pulls out the classical guitar card is priceless.
**Crossroads ** is SO underrated.