The Hot Button by David Poland

Monday, 27 July 1998

WEEKEND WRAP-UP

Well, obviously Private Ryan didn't need to be saved. With a $30.1 million opening weekend, Saving Private Ryan did better than most anyone would have guessed, though it's not clear whether the controversy over the super-realistic violence in the film was something DreamWorks overcame or if it turned out to be just the hook they needed to make their film a mega-hit. (No, even if the latter is true, I don't believe that DreamWorks "used" death and destruction as a marketing draw intentionally. Whatever I feel about the premiere faux pas (THB 07/23), I still believe strongly in the unique honor of DreamWorks and their marketing staff.) Either way, it's an important film that deserves a large audience. If it drops 20 percent or less next weekend, it automatically becomes the front-runner for high-grosser of the summer. Less fortunate was The Mask of Zorro, which suffered a 39 percent fall in week two of its ride, taking second place with just $13.7 million. It passed $50 million, but Sony can't be happy. They pushed the film from winter to spring to summer and now, with 20/20 hindsight, it looks like the spring would have been kinder to a film that would have been the only really good populist film other than Titanic. (Oh, for the wide open spaces that Godzilla squandered for them.) Speaking of populist films, Lethal Weapon 4 continues to stay relatively strong despite its self-destructive nature. The film dropped 39 percent in week three with a $13.2 million take, but should pass the $100 million mark domestically before next weekend begins.
The co-story of the weekend is the 7 percent drop of the fourth place film, There's Something About Mary. I don't believe there's been anywhere near such a small drop since Titanic. What does it mean? Yes, everyone. WE HAVE LEGS! We haven't seen legs since Titanic and they are, indeed, a lovely sight. Some of you who have written are clearly not fans of this film. Vulgar has been amongst the kinder accusations. But this is a funny movie and an original one in its way, so I will continue to support it and applaud its success. Armageddon closed in on $150 million this weekend, dropping just 34 percent to fifth place, adding another $10.9 million to its coffers. I wish I knew who was still going to see this film in these numbers. (Feel free to write. My interest is sincere.)
The second five leads off with Disturbing Behavior, whose behavior as a box office draw will disturb MGM more than anyone else. I don't wanna wait for Katie Holmes to get back to "Dawson's Creek." (Next week, fellow Dawsonette Michelle Williams turns up in a worthless role in the often worthy Halloween: H20. Jamie Lee Curtis pushes the kids aside and takes full command of that bloody romp.) Oh yeah, Disturbing Behavior. Seven million. Not disturbing, Dr. Dolittle continues to astonish, falling just 27 percent to add another $6.9 million to the $110 million it entered the weekend with. (Finally caught the movie. I don't get the draw. Not a terrible movie, but a $130 million "not terrible" movie?) In eighth, it was MAFIA! -- $6.4 million couldn't be considered a killing. In fact, if a Vegas casino had that kind of take, the real mafia would have someone whacked for skimming the take. (Watch out for Joe Roth if he pulls you close and says, "You broke my heart.") Small Soldiers got smaller with a 40 percent drop to $5.2 million. Will it be fair to call this likely $55 million domestic grosser a miss? It will depend completely on the foreign numbers. And Mulan makes what is likely to be its last Top 10 appearance with a 31 percent fall to $3.4 million.
THE BAD: Well, our very own Andy Jones breaks one of my cardinal rules for reviews. He gives away info that keeps us from enjoying every moment in Saving Private Ryan as a surprise. However, he doesn't indulge in what I would say, in this case, has become almost standard amongst "serious" critics: critiquing Spielberg for his previous work and not simply for the film he made. It's kind of like, "This film was a singular accomplishment, but..." The "but" is schmaltz. Everyone seems compelled to bring it up. Some suggest it even ruins the picture. I say, "Bull." There were absolutely two or three emotionally manipulative moments in this film, but Spielberg mostly retired his bag of "gotcha" tricks. Separated from his name, there isn't a whole lot here that screams, "Spielberg!" What it screams is experience and genius. No, I'm not saying it's perfect. But it is certainly the best film this year (or last -- sorry, Titanic) and I say the schmaltz naysayers are just covering their asses by not liking a Spielberg film too much to be "cool." Amongst the offenders is Ella Taylor, whose review begins, "If Steven Spielberg's emotional intelligence matched his visual genius, his harrowing, passionately felt and honorably flawed new film might qualify for one of the greatest American movies ever made about World War II." Amy Taubin's analysis really tears in, beginning with: "A high-minded horror film, Saving Private Ryan begins, like Jaws, with blood and severed limbs in the water and ends like Jurassic Park, with frail humans locked in combat to the death with armored monsters (the monsters being German tanks)."
THE GOOD: In my opinion, Peter Rainer, who I often disagree with violently, got the story right in his review. He watched the movie and not Spielberg. I'll also be putting together some of your comments for publication in the hot button later this week.
THE ZORRO: A couple things here. First, I have to cough up credit to Executive Producer Steven Spielberg for spinning out this remarkable story of his "discovery" of Catherine Zeta-Jones. I am as taken as anyone with Ms. Zeta-Jones, so you can imagine the sound of my jaw hitting the ground when I saw her flash across the screen in The Phantom. I'm sure that her presence in the film was remembered by many of you, but I have managed to erase almost the entire painful moviegoing experience from my brain through extensive shock therapy. But it all came screaming back as CZJ told the oh-so-butch Billy Zane, "Those are like warheads. If we hit anything, we're fish food." What a line! And what a merchandising tie-in Zorro has with Head & Shoulders! I understood the Mustang hook, but a guy in pre-anti-bacterial Mexico who wears a mask and a black hankie on his head selling Head & Shoulders? Like CZJ takes care of her magnificent mane with dandruff shampoo. Come on!
TWO BAD MOVIES EQUAL: The Parent Trap + Saving Private Ryan = The Private Ryan Trap. This is the story of two Matt Damons. One is a young, up-and-coming actor who got hired to do a Steven Spielberg movie with a cast of other little-known actors. The other one who hit lots of magazine covers due to Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker, and then hits every other magazine cover (and some of the earlier ones again) after starring in Good Will Hunting and taking home an Academy Award. (He's seen the sights only a hot young actor can see under star actresses' tights.) As a result, Tom Hanks and his crew go out looking for a character whom they can't identify on sight and we can. And a great moment is lost. (What a wild duet!)
JUST WONDERING: I've seen SPR twice. I liked it better the second time. A reader, Erin, also has seen the film twice. The second time disappointed her after she loved it the first time (She even sent a link to a RealAudio file of Tom Shales ripping the film, for what else, false emotion.) Anyone else seen it twice? How was it the second time around?
BAD AD WATCH: Warner Bros. has switched from Bobbie Wygant's bizarre (if not psychotic) "The Best Lethal Weapon Ever" to Janet Maslin's "A flamboyant tongue-in-cheek adventure." What they don't tell you is that the review was lukewarm. Mostly, Maslin's review exhibits a kindness that seems to be based on weariness caused by Armageddon and Godzilla, summing up LW4 as "one of the nicer blow-'em-ups around." In my book, that's damning with faint praise. The quote that the studio pulled follows, "Lethal Weapon 4 is still a film whose idea of high drama is watching a car get pushed in front of an oncoming train." But a New York Times "rave" is still a New York Times rave.
READER OF THE DAY: From Michaela: "Saving Private Ryan 'too harsh' for women? I'm pretty sure most of us can take it, as long as we've got some 'big strong man' to lead us out of the theater. God save us all from those who think we need protection from reality (or even fiction based on reality)."

E ME: Ryan's the Word.