MOVIE LICKS
they're so money (and they know it)
The numbers are in and somewhat surprisingly, Wedding Crashers came in as #1 this weekend after trailing Charlie and Chocolate Factory for two weeks. This is remarkable on a few levels: first, the movie only lost 20% of its audience from last week which means that mostly strong reviews and more importantly, good word-of-mouth is packing people in. According to the above-linked article, if the movie sustains this success, it's on track to be the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time.
I admit, S and I contributed by going to a matinee of the film this weekend and like William Hung (ha, take that Junichi), I have no regrets. Few quick comments:
- The last third of the film really nose-dived but not enough to ruin the film for me.
- Personally, I enjoyed Wilson and Vaughn's chemistry and wordy, chattering repartee. The romantic comedy subplots might have been weak, but as a buddy film, this succeeded quite well.
- I can see why Rachel McAdams is the current "it" girl in Hollywood though I don't have any illusions that she'll hold the spot for more than a few more films. Isla Fisher was kick ass but hey, it's always fun to play crazy. Ali G's a lucky dude.
- As someone who's watched Alias since S1 (and lived to regret that at times), it's weird seeing Bradley Cooper cast as a complete asshole. I thought this was a misstep with the script. Not like WC is high on realism, but his character was just so insanely alpha-dog, the choice between him and Wilson is like choosing between stapling your finger and getting a back-rub.
- Will Ferrell works but only in very, very small doses.
Somewhere at New Line, I'm sure there will be whispers of "sequel" brewing though it's not the kind of film which really lends itself as such. I do think we're going to start seeing a lot more of Vince Vaughn in the next two years and quite possibly, another Vaughn/Wilson team-up down the road. Maybe both of them can play characters in Wes Anderson's adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Fantastic Mr. Fox (am I the only person who thinks that story, in Anderson's hands, could be rather wack?)
By the way, I just read an interesting take on the movie by Slate's Debra Dickerson who asks, how come they don't crash any Black people's weddings?
Anyways, as sweet as this weekend was for Wedding Crashers, Stealth crashed and burned on take-off, perhaps smashing into The Island on that way down. These two $100,000,000 films are going to lose enough money to hopefully get a few folks fired. And the thing is...if you saw the previews for Stealth, you just knew it was going to suuuuuuuuck. It looked terrible and I just hope Jamie cashed that check ASAP. As for The Island, my friend Josh give it one of the best mixed reviews I've seen, something to the extent of, "it blew but it was the best Michael Bay film since The Rock." I'm not sure if that's damning with faint praise or praising with faint damning. Either way, all of Bay's "I'm critic-proof!" chickens are now knocking on the barn door.
IN OTHER NEWS...
(credit: Kris Ex)
- "Cal/Common
A lot of people want to see these guys blow up, mostly because they are often associated with hippies and liberal politics, and considered "smarter" than those at the top of their game. Uses the media to bitch about others blowin' up spots they think they rightfully deserve. Known to send feelers out to the big leagues with middling results."
(credit: Kris Ex)
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