Do you ever see a trailer for a movie, and right then and there, declare that you've gotta see it? But then, when you see the film, for better or for worse, you realize that it was marketed all wrong? What was supposed to be a laugh-out-loud comedy turned out to be a dark, serious drama. What you thought was an action movie actually morphed into a slapstick lark.
We, too, have been bamboozled by mis-marketed movies over the years. Here are some of our favorite, as well as the movies that left us sorely disappointed when we saw the finished product.
Molly Snyder Edler
Staff Writer
"The Cable Guy"
When the trailers first came out for this 1996 film starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick, it was teased as a traditional comedy. Sure, Carrey's portrayal of a lisped, lonely cable employee named Chip creates a few laugh-out-loud scenes, like when he duels Broderick's character, Steven, at the medieval restaurant. However, "The Cable Guy" is a black comedy -- not a ha-ha comedy -- and many viewers were surprised how dark the film turns midway through when Chip's obsession with Steven escalates to straight-up stalker proportions. Personally, I really love this movie because it demonstrates Carrey's ability to play serious roles. However, "The Cable Guy" received very mixed reviews from critics. In part, I believe, from unmet expectations.
Julie Lawrence
Staff Writer
"Paranoid Park"
This movie takes its name from an actual skate park in Portland, Ore., called O'Bryant Square, but is nicknamed Paranoid Park, or Punk Park. The movie stars Gabe Nevins as a 16-year-old who lives by the motto "skate or die" and everything else in his life -- high school, hot but neurotic girlfriend, divorced parents -- takes a hazy backseat.
Sounds like the perfect teen drama storm, doesn't it?
I thought so too, until I remembered that director Gus Van Sant would never do that to us. His films are known for following youth through troubled times -- "My Own Private Idaho," "Gerry," "Elephant" and "Last Days" -- but never in a melodramatic cliché way. "Paranoid Park" plays out poetically, with non-linear sequencing, minimal dialogue and plenty of room for personal interpretation. He dazzled us with brilliant imagery, and a few hard-hitting scenes lets his audience fill in the rest.
His style isn't for everyone, but I certainly welcomed his 2008 surprise thinker.
Drew Olson
Senior editor
"The Break-Up"
In the interest of full disclosure, I did not pay to see this movie in a theater. That means I wasn't overly disappointed by the result. I did, however, see trailers and TV commercials for the flick and couldn't avoid the tabloid coverage of the budding romance between co-stars Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston and the fact that she promoted the movie while she was "breaking up" with Brad Pitt.
When I settled in to watch the flick on cable, I was expecting a broad, romantic comedy. This was not a broad romantic comedy. It actually tried to be a more purposeful study of relationships. There was some decent dialogue in places, but Vaughn fell so deeply into the "obnoxious, uncaring schlub" cliche that it was hard to understand why Aniston's character tried to keep the relationship going and didn't just move on.
In any event, this wasn't a horrible movie. It just wasn't what I expected from a strong cast that included Joey Lauren Adams, Vincent D'Onofrio and Jon Favreau, who has the best moment in the movie when he tells is buddy (Vaughn) that he indeed is a self-centered jerk.
Maureen Post
"Rocky"
I don't know if this movie was mis-marketed so much as mis-understood, by me. For years, I've assumed "Rocky," the classic of all classics, was about boxing. I hadn't seen the movie until a couple weeks ago but I'd seen Sylvester Stallone in the ring, running up the stairs and training at the butcher shop; it screamed rent me if you love sports.
In the same way "Field of Dreams" isn't just about baseball and "Hoosiers" isn't only about basketball, "Rocky" is far from strictly a boxing feature. Little did I know, there's a whole world of comedy wrapped up into Rocky's one-liners and romance embedded in Rocky's calls to Adrienne.
President
"3:10 to Yuma"
The list of poorly marketed flicks is long, very long. But, it's a tough job with so many outlets and so much riding on big money releases. Nonetheless, it's marketing 101 -- key messages, design and clarity. "Stranger than Fiction" has to be high on the list, and Andy Tarnoff will discuss it in a bit. For me, "3:10 to Yuma" is a great example. The Western doesn't sell today, it's dead and I don't care if this was a Western remake. Classy, gritty guys do sell and add a tall blond like Vinessa Shaw, and there's your marketing.
But, this film was sold as a "return to the classic Western." Yawn. I didn't see it in the theaters, and had to have Rotten Tomatoes prove it to me before I took a chance on it. I'm glad I did, but I shouldn't have had to wait so long to see a great flick that was, at its heart, a great story about guys woven with family, moral and political issues.
Bobby Tanzilo
Managing Editor
"Pinocchio"
To me, one of the biggest movie missteps in recent years was the English dubbing of Roberto Benigni's "Pinocchio," which was the most expensive movie ever made in Italy when it came out in 2002. Although many critics panned the film, the edit that came out in the States, with a twee voice replacing Benigni's, was virtually unwatchable. Even if you don't understand a word he's saying -- that's what subtitles are for -- Benigni's voice, his inflection, his vocal personality are irreplaceable. Try to watch "Broadway Danny Rose" with Screetch overdubbing Woody Allen's lines. Something was literally lost in translation.
A beautifully photographed film, "Pinocchio" was destroyed in the recording studio vocal booth and by the lopping out of more than 10 minutes of footage for the American market. While the film was also marketed here as a children's movie, Benigni based the film on Carlo Collodi's original 19th century Pinocchio stories, which were much darker and heavier than the Disney adaptations of them. While children may have enjoyed it, like "The Simpsons," Benigni's "Pinocchio" was aimed at adults.
Andy Tarnoff
Publisher
"Stranger Than Fiction"
I recently rented "Hancock," and it became the genesis for this article. I was expecting a light-hearted, silly, action movie but it took a turn for the serious and romantic half-way through. In fact, I liked it much more than I expected to. Other movies this year tricked me, too: "W." was long and boring and not, as its trailer suggested, funny. Same goes for "Burn After Reader," which was far more dark and dialogue-intensive than marketed. A few years ago, I saw "Wedding Crashers," which started out as marketed, then devolved into a lame romantic comedy.
But the movie that I found most mis-marketed most was "Stranger Than Fiction," a Will Ferrell movie that looked so slapstick in the trailer that I only begrudgingly saw it a budget theater. Turns out it was a sweet, sensitive and deep movie that showed that the range of Ferrell extended well beyond "Frank The Tank." I was more than pleasantly surprised by "Stranger Than Fiction," I felt pathos for its creators who saw their great film strangely marketed to completely the wrong crowd.
