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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Posted Thursday, May 31st, 2007 - 32 Comments »

And Some Open Space…

As always, when I am on the run, I try to leave some space for y’all to work it out.
Try to be nice to one another… or at least civil…

32 Comments »

32 Responses to “And Some Open Space…”

  1. EDouglas says:
    May 31, 2007 at 4:56 am

    Am I the only one surprised that David hasn’t said a single thing about Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up? You were one of the primary early purveyors of 40 Year Old Virgin, and I’m sure you would have commented on his follow-up by now. Have you not seen one of the kajillion screenings they’ve done?

  2. mysteryperfecta says:
    May 31, 2007 at 6:42 am

    Anyone seen that new Geico commercial with the boy talking about putting some NASCAR driver “into the wall”? Very Wes Anderson-esque. I know he’s done a number of commercials; if its not him, then its someone channeling him.

  3. mysteryperfecta says:
    May 31, 2007 at 6:53 am

    Here it is:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_90tfqwXc0A
    I like it.

  4. Me says:
    May 31, 2007 at 7:16 am

    Does anyone know how Knocked Up is tracking? Sometimes I get the impression that it could break out, and sometimes I feel like it is going to get overlooked.

  5. Aris P says:
    May 31, 2007 at 8:42 am

    Excuse me, but did Ben Silverman actually say “It’s good for the Jews”, regarding his new gig as honcho of NBC? DP asked us to be civil, but something about that comment rubbed me the wrong way. Anyone care to explain why he would say that?

  6. Josh Massey says:
    May 31, 2007 at 8:44 am

    Silverman is just happy that Jewish people are finally starting to break into the media business. It’s about time, I say.

  7. Hopscotch says:
    May 31, 2007 at 11:12 am

    I saw KNOCKED UP last night.
    Impressions: It IS really funny, definitely two or three from-the-gut laughs. But, I’ll also agree with David that the media-hype surrounding this movie is going to hurt it. I laughed, but this film is not the “second coming” for pete’s sake. It stays in the usual 3-act structure of the romantic comedy. Seth Rogen is a funny, confident dude on-screen, but he’s not the next Vince Vaughn. Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann easily steal the movie. I’m half-serious that Universal should make a spin-off on that couple. The roommates are also funny, but by Act 3, it got a little tiresome. The celebrity cameos are cute, but nothing more.
    In short, it’s good. Go See it. But the media has put Apatow and Rogen on a pedastal that is a little too high, and the film might get some bad word of mouth because of it.
    I really did like 40 Year Old Virgin, and this doesn’t quite get there in terms of laughs. Close, but no cigar.

  8. The Pope says:
    May 31, 2007 at 11:20 am

    I don’t live in the U.S., so I don’t know about how KNOCKED UP is tracking or indeed its TV or print ads. But I saw the trailer on-line back in March and thought it was funny. I got the chance to see the movie about 5 weeks ago, and I was really surprised by its broad appeal (the audience I saw it with were male/female 30s).
    Another thing is that the trailer barely gives you anything. I don’t know about you, but when the summer arrives, rather than waiting for months in anticipation for a block-buster to arrive, there is nothing better than finding a movie through word of mouth.
    From the entries above it seems that, despite the great reviews (92% Rotten Tomatoes), KNOCKED-UP has yet to get advance buzz. However, I think audiences will love it all summer long.

  9. Hopscotch says:
    May 31, 2007 at 11:23 am

    I definitely enjoyed it, as did the audience I saw it with…but some of these reviews paint it like it’s the greatest comedy in history, and that’s a bit much.
    Grindhouse, it should be pointed out, got overwhelmingly positive reviews too.

  10. PetalumaFilms says:
    May 31, 2007 at 11:24 am

    I think “Knocked Up” is going to kick major ass at the box office…it’s got so much going for it besides the Apatow angle.
    Katherine Heigel is not only smoking hot, but couple a pregnancy movie with the “star” of “Greys Anatomy” and there’s a big ole chunk of money.
    Adults haven’t had a movie to go see without their damn kids for months. I think “Disturbia” did so well because it was in that realm plus catered to the PG-13 crowd. “Knocked Up” is an adult movie for men AND women. That’s incredibly rare.
    Plus, it’s really, really, really…funny. And also sweet and serious. It’s a chick flick for the refuse-to-grow-up man crowd.
    One thing I do see hurting it is it’s length. The version I saw at SXSW was over 2 hours long which is surprising for a comedy. But I thought the film wokred big time and it’s not only going to pull in alot of cash this weekend, it’s going to be around for a while.
    That’s just what I think though….

  11. Hopscotch says:
    May 31, 2007 at 11:30 am

    2 hours, 10 min. but it didn’t feel long for me.

  12. ployp says:
    May 31, 2007 at 11:33 am

    I thought someone would bring up Mr. Poland’s column on the Hot Blog, “Summer II: The Sequel – Return Of The Relative Sanity.”
    From what I’ve so far heard of Shrek III, I probably catch it on DVD or not at all, but I wasn’t a fan of the first two anyway. I’m not particularly excited about any other sequels/three-quels right now. I think Spidey III and Pirates III have exhausted me (the prior especially). I’m more interested in seeing new things. The possible exception is Live Free and Die Hard. I love the first Die Hard. I recently watched it again and, I must say, it has been able to stay ‘fresh’ after almost 20 years!! I’ve never read Nancy Drew as a kid, but I’m interested in it. The one I want to see most right now is Stardust. I love fairy tales and I’ve been deprived of one for so long. I can’t even recall the last one that came out in theater.

  13. Sandy says:
    May 31, 2007 at 11:49 am

    Yeah, on behalf of the women who couldn’t care less about Apatow or Rogen…we just know that Katherine Heigl from Grey’s Anatomy (the show has 20 plus million viewers) is in and that’s good enough to want to see it.

  14. PetalumaFilms says:
    May 31, 2007 at 11:54 am

    It didn’t feel long to me either, but for a comedy…that’s long.
    Sandy-if you’re being sarcastic, you’re just silly. EVERY time I go to the video store, I see couples renting movies based solely on who is in the film. If you don’t think that people (men and women) rent or see a movie based on the star, you’re nutty. If you were being serious, then I apologize :-D

  15. Me says:
    May 31, 2007 at 12:40 pm

    The thing about TV stars is that they don’t always translate to box office success. Wasn’t Heigl in that Johnny Knoxville flick a while back, after Gray’s Anatomy had become a hit? That didn’t exactly become a major hit.

  16. Josh Massey says:
    May 31, 2007 at 1:07 pm

    Exactly what I was going to say, Me. Starring in a hit TV show does not automatically translate to box office success. Remember the seemingly constant barrage of flops from the “Friends” cast – at the height of the show’s success?

  17. Stella's Boy says:
    May 31, 2007 at 1:10 pm

    While it’s true that TV stars don’t always become movie stars, I hardly think that applies to Knocked Up. It will do well and that may have little to nothing to do with Heigl. I believe it will make at least $25 million this weekend, and wouldn’t be surprised at all if it does much more than that.

  18. Eric says:
    May 31, 2007 at 1:30 pm

    Agree with Stella’s Boy– Knocked Up seems to offer more than the usual TV star-wants-to-be-in-movies flick. Heigl is not the focus of the marketing that I’ve seen. It’s not a nakedly desperate career move, which is what I think was the problem with most of the Friends movies.

  19. Krazy Eyes says:
    May 31, 2007 at 2:00 pm

    The thing about TV stars is that they don’t always translate to box office success.
    Wasn’t Heigl also one of the star in that infamous $30 grossing movie a few months back?

  20. Cadavra says:
    May 31, 2007 at 2:14 pm

    Stars don’t mean squat. I remember having lunch with a co-worker one day in spring ’95. Tom Hanks had just won his second consecutive Oscar, and DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE had just opened to the then-astronomical figure of $30 million. Co-worker: “Man, if you could get Hanks and Willis together in a picture, can you imagine what that would be like?” Me: “Yeah. BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES.”

  21. Sandy says:
    May 31, 2007 at 2:40 pm

    Petaluma – Uhhhh….I WAS being serious :-D – but then again, I never wanted to see a movie just because Jennifer Aniston was in it…I just never liked her all that much. I think the movie will do well enough since we’re tired of the big noisy blockbusters of May.

  22. PetalumaFilms says:
    May 31, 2007 at 3:55 pm

    I didn’t mean to get snippy, Sandy. I just feel people sometimes rent or see movies based on the stars OR based on the previous films. Kind of the whole “straight to DVD” idea. Ya know, make a cheesey sequel to a movie that did so-so at the box office OR make a movie with a TV star and make money renting it at Blockbuster.

  23. LexG says:
    May 31, 2007 at 4:49 pm

    No idea which way the wind is blowing on KNOCKED UP. In fact, I asked this very question last week. Seems the studio tried and tried to engineer the hype and buzz for this to be some sort of pretend-sleeper, so we could all fake getting caught off guard if it made 200 mil.
    But I just don’t see the plan working, at least not yet. Trailers and TV ads were/are minimal, and despite their best efforts, I don’t think Joe Multiplex is really making the 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN connection. I’ve had to badger friends with, “But you liked 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, shouldn’t you be excited about this? It’s the SAME PEOPLE AND THE SAME MOVIE!” And still they don’t care. It’ll get great word-of-mouth, but it’s not going to open big. People think it’s some low-rent, one-joke comedy, and the spots I have seen don’t do much to combat that view: even the FILM STOCK LOOKS SHITTY.
    I have a nagging suspicion that SUPERBAD will end up being the movie that the studio wanted KNOCKED UP to be.
    On an unrelated but not dissimilar subject, was scheduling HOSTEL PART 2 as a SUMMER RELEASE kind of a bad idea? It’s opening up against two bigger, more mass-appeal blockbusters– OCEAN’S and SURF’S UP. What was up with THAT choice? Where it would’ve cleaned up in January-thru-April, now it’ll probably be relegated to low-rent, Dimension-on-Christmas Day status. Is there any way it’ll possibly do well this time of year?

  24. doug r says:
    May 31, 2007 at 7:17 pm

    I keep hearing the reviews: “Funniest movie ever, etc” yet the trailers don’t really have any punch to them. I mean, I LOVED the 40 Year Old Virgin, but the trailers don’t show it….

  25. PetalumaFilms says:
    May 31, 2007 at 8:10 pm

    It’s NOT the funniest movie ever, but it’s really funny. I have to say my pick for personal “funniest movie ever” is “Dumb and Dumber.” I know that’s stupid, but that movie is frigging hillarious.

  26. lazarus says:
    May 31, 2007 at 8:27 pm

    Using The Ringer as an example of Katherine Heigl’s box office potential is so, so wrong. The female demographic from Gray’s Anatomy wouldn’t have seen that film anyway. A film starring the guy from Jackass (a boy’s club if there ever was one) who lies his way into the special olympics? Not going to get a lot of girls to see that one.
    Knocked Up, however, is a romantic comedy, and though it may be more about Rogen’s character becoming a man, facing a pregnancy with someone who may not be the ideal husband is a situation a lot of girls may be able to imagine, if not outright relate to. That it’s funny on top of it is an even greater selling point.
    I think the word-of-mouth is still going to be great, and it doesn’t really have much competition in its category. It might not make 40YOV numbers, but it can still be a success regardless.

  27. Jimmy the Gent says:
    May 31, 2007 at 8:27 pm

    I’m pretty sure Knocked Up will pull its wieght. Like Wedding Crashers, word-of-mouth will be the key factor.
    There are two types of TV actors. There are those who make it in movies (Clooney, McQueen, Meg Ryan), and those who can’t (Caruso, Patrick Duffy, everyone on an Aaron Spelling show). I think Geigl can be a breakout star. Unlike Pompeo and Dempsey, she can do big and small emotions with great ease. It seems now more obvious that Pompeo was a TV star trying to be a movie actor. Remember when some critics were hailing her as “better than Zellweger”?
    There are some actors who are fully aware of what they can do on both TV and in the movies. Sarah Jessica Parker is a perfect example. She knows a movie like The Family Stone is perfect for her. She doesn’t bother trying to go after a role like Swank in Million Dollar Baby. caruso would’ve be perfect for the movies in the heyday of film noir. He has an Alan Ladd quality. (Anyone who saw him in King of New York knows what he’s capable of.) Gary Sinise and William Petersen are two other examples of screen actors showing they can transition quite smoothly to TV.
    The Friends cast members are an interesting case study. Schwimmer does fine stage work. He can play great assholes in something like Band of Brothers. His little-seen alcoholic drama is remarkable. Kudrow can do comedy quite well. Aniston is best in small-scale movies like Office Space and The Good Girl.
    I actually think someone like Ray Liotta would be amazing on a TV show. His Smith was poorly executed, but he was solid. Give him CSI: Chicago. I would love to see Walken in a HBO sitcom.
    Is there anyone else who should try to transition from TV to movies? Or, is there a movie actor who should try their hand at TV?

  28. lazarus says:
    May 31, 2007 at 8:41 pm

    I’m looking forward to what James Gandolfini will do once The Sopranos ends. He used his notoriety to take on some smaller character roles (the gay hitman in The Mexican, the other man in The Man Who Wasn’t There, the fascist warden in The Last Castle)since the show started, but what next? He’s arguably the biggest presence on television, and if anyone has a chance it’s him.
    I just noticed on IMDB that he’s working on an untitled Ernest Hemingway project, playing Papa. I guess there’s our answer.
    I’ve also been really impressed with Matthew Fox the longer Lost goes on; last week’s season finale had some extremely impressive work, and I imagine his hunk status would give him a pretty good standing with the ladies. Guys don’t seem to mind too much either. Maybe not now, but after another season of the show, before the numbers really start to drop? He should make his move while he’s on vacation. The only thing I’m worried about is his (seemingly) lack of a sense of humor, but that may be carryover from the obnoxiously, terminally weepy Party of Five, and his current Dudley-Do-Right (albiet a fucked up one) character.

  29. Eric says:
    June 1, 2007 at 6:01 am

    Lazarus, I was wondering the same about Gandolfini the other day. It’s going to be very difficult for him to do anything outside of the shadow of Sopranos– he’s just been too perfect in the role, you can’t see him anymore as anything but. I’d bet he’ll have to work for ten years before he gets a movie review that doesn’t mention the show.
    I’m sort of worried the same thing is going to happen soon to Steve Carrell. He’s just so perfect in The Office that audiences are going to have a hard time separating him from his character.
    It’s like they’re both too talented for their own good.

  30. combat_wombat says:
    June 1, 2007 at 6:12 am

    I’ve given this a little thought and would like to submit that the reason TV stars don’t always translate into movie stars is accessibility. An actor in a TV show under heavy rotation is readily available to anyone who likes to watch him or her. I think Clooney is a good example of this

  31. Me says:
    June 1, 2007 at 7:20 am

    Lazarus, I’m not sure women see Rogen, in his gross, under-washed appearance from the tv commercials and trailers, and think he’s any better than Johnny Knoxville. And this may be a romantic comedy, but it also has a gross-out comedy feel to it, too (whether that is reflective of the actual movie, or not). I don’t think the comparisons (marketability-wise) to The Ringer are all that far off.
    Personally, I think this is a movie that’s going to rely on word-of-mouth. If it doesn’t do better in its second week than its first, it could be in trouble.
    Then again, it could bigger than I think. I just don’t know how this one is going to go.
    Personally, I liked the trailer for SuperBad a lot more than the ones for Knocked Up.

  32. Hopscotch says:
    June 1, 2007 at 10:50 am

    The other thing about 40YOV is that it has literally, one of the funniest One-Sheets in movie history. I nearly got into a car accident the first time I saw that thing.
    Knocked Up is funny, and I’m telling my friends to see it. But I told my friends they HAD to see 40YOV.

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