..Gary
Dretzka
..Noah
Forrest
..Leonard
Klady
..R.J.
Matson
..David
Poland
..Douglas
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
..Michael
Wilmington
An
Inconvenient Truth
Directed by Davis
Guggenheim
Paramount Vantage
Today's release is An Inconvenient Truth. And here is an inconvenient truth for Paramount Vantage and the filmmakers… no matter how much generosity critics and activists show this movie, it is still a boring slideshow by a boring speaker and no matter how many cool graphics are included, it's still a boring movie.
Did you hear the one about global warming?
It's happening.
And now, ladies and gents, you can send the $8 - $14 you were going to spend on the movie to "Uncle Dave Explains It All."
Or, if you want to be a lot more proactive, go out and buy The Book Of The Movie, which is really The Book of The Slideshow, which has the same title as the movie, is written by Al Gore and is published by Rodale and Melcher Media for just $21.95 US/ $28.95 CAN. I actually quite like the book, which was given to me in the goodie bag at the premiere last Monday. It has all the information of the movie and none of the trying to stay awake as Gore strains to be charming.
Sorry, but that's the way it is. Castor Oil is good for you (I hope), but that doesn't make it taste any better. McDonald's is bad for you, but that doesn't make a large order of fries hot out of the animal fat any less delicious.
I'm sure Al Gore is a nice guy. He is clearly a smart man. And he is willing to let Saturday Night Live writers make him appear to be funny. (I'm sure he and Clinton laughed and laughed in the Oval Office at the sound of farts, as most men do.) And thank God he doesn't find his own jokes hysterically funny the way that George W does.
But as a movie star, he's a screenwriter.
Actually, most of the screenwriters I know, however eccentric, have more personality than the former Vice President.
There is no judgment of Davis Guggenheim possible here. He's basically a TV director and this film feels like it was pretty much assembled, not directed. But that is the nature of the thing. It is a slideshow writ large.
The marketing has done an excellent job of making it look like it's a real movie. But even Michael Moore's weakest effort had more umph than this thing. It isn't Super Size Me or and Mad Hot Ballroom or Street Fight or most likely as worth your time as any of the 20 plus docs that are about to roll out at the Los Angeles Film Fest or Seattle or even your local art house.
If it catches the hype wave, which it is riding high on, just right, it could be the highest grossing doc of the year… at $6 million or $7 million.
For kids in school, it will be better than a slide show and they all should see it. I would happily encourage anyone who wants or needs a lesson in global warming to see this contraption. But it just isn't a movie.
