The Hot Button by David Poland

Friday, 16 April 1999

WEEKEND REVIEW

It's not going to be like Titanic, but for another week or two at least, we get to play, "Can it beat The Matrix?" This week's big contestant is Life, starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. And the answer is: no freakin' way! The star power of Murphy should be enough to edge out Never Been Kissed for the No. 2 slot, but not by a whole lot. (Is $4 million a whole lot anymore?) The other new release is the long-shelved Goodbye Lover from Warner Bros. If Ellen DeGeneres was really a drag on EDtv's numbers (and I personally do not believe that she was), Goodbye, Lover, which is all about her in the ad campaign, should do negative numbers. For screen counts on the newcomers and the holdovers, plus box office analysis and estimates, click here for Box Office Extra after noon ET.
Holdovers 10 Things I Hate About You and The Out-of-Towners should be battling again, though if it stays true to form, Analyze This will move back up the charts past both films. Many of us are crossing our fingers for a strong second weekend for Go. And Foolish may prove to be anything but in its second weekend. Last weekend's 7-8-9 finishers are so uninspiring that I'll just name them: Forces of Natures, Twin Dragons and Doug's 1st Movie.
THE GOOD: The Hot Button's World Tour 1999 is heating up the jets again. I was originally planning on heading to San Francisco for The San Francisco International Film Festival next week. Premieres from David Mamet and Wim Wenders. A wide range of international films. The best restaurant town in America. But then, I changed my mind. I decided to head to Champaign-Urbana, Ill. Why? I got wind of Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival. What is it? Ten films. Five discussion panels. Three days of one man's passion. You may love him or you may hate him, but you have to admit, Roger Ebert loves movies. And where else could I see Bronenosets Potyomkin, Household Saints and Surrender Dorothy all in the same weekend? And have great people around to argue about them with. Among them, two of the best overlooked actors in the world, David Warner and Scott Wilson. So, click onto the festivals Website and come check it out if you live close enough.
THE BAD: The clip for Goodbye, Lover, shown when the wonderfully sexy Patricia Arquette appeared on Jay Leno, was basically Arquette on a couch giving away a major twist in the story and playing a straight woman (an unintended pun) to Ellen DeGeneres and her hair. What does that say about the movie? Stay away! (And of course, I won't, probably paying good money for it this weekend.)
THE UGLY: I was hoping. I was keeping my little fingers crossed. I was counting on Eddie. Life was a glorious opportunity to do a comedic drama about two men stuck together for a lifetime, but it just keeps missing. First it's an oil-and-water buddy comedy that reminds one of Harlem Nights. That's not a good thing. Then, it's My Cousin Vinny without the jokes, just Martin whining and Eddie trying to be slick. And then it's Jive Hand Luke with some promising ensemble characters, but none of them really develop. In fact, one of the most compelling ideas in this film is watching a community of black men live, laugh and age together. Of course, my Spike Lee side immediately realizes that the black men are in a community because they are in jail. Not much of a way to get them together. And worse, the sense of community doesn't really happen in the film for more than two minutes at a time because we're busy being forced to focus on just Eddie and Martin.
Then, as they age, it becomes Grumpy Old Black Men. But they aren't really interesting. Watching Eddie Murphy in the aging make-up is actually pretty astounding. But if I'm watching Eddie Murphy being a brilliantly subtle performer, I'm not being entertained. I still don't spend much time when The Nutty Professor shows up on cable watching Eddie work the make-up. I'm busy laughing at the characters. Oh, well. (If you want to see Eddie getting his make-up treatment, click here for the digitized video of him in the chair. It's kind of fun.) It was a great idea that just lost its way. And I lost two hours of my life.
THE CHAT: Oy! It hasn't been easy in chat-ville. Lisa Nicole Carson, who cameos in Life, was due on Monday and got called into "Ally McBeal" on her day off. And I have guests a' coming, but no dates yet. All I can say right now is, Mathew Broderick is on the way. And he's in a terrific little movie called Election. More info as things come together.
JUST WONDERING: Are you Kosovo sensitive? The Hollywood Reporter is. They are doing their bit for the war effort and you can join them by clicking here. Me, I 'm not a big fan of this action, but The Reporter is offering contacts to various relief agencies that could use your help to assist the people who are suffering most through this. And I'm not talking about Monica Lewinsky's book publishers.
QUOTE WHORING USA: For Life: "It'll make you want to spend some time with your loved ones... in jail." "Life is much, much better than death!" "Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence are a dynamic duo... just like Val Kilmer And Chris O'Donnell. Or is that George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell? Or was that Minnie Driver and Chris O'Donnell? Or Minnie Driver and Matt Damon?"
HAPPY TRAILERS TO YOU: The trailer for South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut is very funny. (Could those guys actually be making a joke about the male member with that title? I can't believe that those nice boys would even consider it.) But because it's got a twist. I can't really write anything about it without ruining it for you, but I think it's pretty clever and it reminds me of Tron. 'Nuff said. And I caught the new red-banded trailer for Eyes Wide Shut featuring frontal nudity of Tom Cruise and actual simulated penetration between Sydney Pollack and Teri Hatcher. It was a little shocking, but so would be doing an April Fool's Day prank on April 1. Did I catch you?
BAD AD WATCH: I'm pretty sure that I wasn't hallucinating when I saw a Sears ad with a girl jumping around like Cameron Diaz to a catchy '60s song like "Fill Me Up." Yes, a Sears ad riffing on There's Something About Mary. They'll do anything to be hip nowadays. In fact, there was more! The girl has her hair flipped up like Mary's special "hair gel" do. And then, she cheerfully bops past a priest, who thinks she's really cute, kinda like he was in a Mentos commercial with a side of semen. Fugly.
READERS OF THE DAY: From Just Jen: "I am rather perplexed about all the praise for The Matrix. The general consensus among my friends and I was that The Matrix was a cliché-ridden joke. 'Dorothy, you're not in Kansas anymore?' 'I can lead you to the door, but YOU must open it.' The dialogue barely scrapes by with a 'poor' grade. And regarding this, 'The Matrix cannot be explained in words. You must experience it.' -- Doesn't the Matrix get explained succinctly and completely by Lawrence Fishburne as he struts around in front of the white screen?
"What really disturbs me is that so many people seem to find this movie cerebral and full of innovative questions. The spoilers aren't spoiling much. The notion that we could be living the butterfly's dream? That freedom and success come from redefining the rules and questioning common assumptions? It's always fun to ruminate over, but those ideas are ancient news. Frankly, most 'Star Trek' episodes share more insight into thought-provoking themes and archetypes than this film. How the actors could keep a straight face while slogging through the movie is a true testament to their abilities. Yes, the special effects were nice, but let's not go overboard lauding the directors for their reverential nods to other films. Even if they all were purposeful (though overall it seemed more like a hack job to me), the references are something any teen-age action movie-philes could have come up with on a lazy summer afternoon."
And from Rich: "Well, there's nothing like a Best of/Worst of list to get people riled, eh? I'll try to be concise. I didn't see many of the movies on your worst list, but while I agree 200 Cigarettes was terrible. Its quality soundtrack makes it a runner-up in my Worst of list. The 'winner' of that honor is Virus, a poorly made waste of time that should never have been released. Special mention to In Dreams, which I thought was so ridiculously bad in its second half that it has to be more than just an artistic failure. As for your Best of list, I agree with Analyze This and The Matrix, but I didn't really care for some of the others. To me, October Sky just never rose above a feeling of manipulative, been-there-done-that filmmaking. Ravenous was unfairly lambasted, but I thought it compromised itself by throwing in ineffective black humor and supernatural elements instead of focusing on the horrors of 'normal' cannibalism. One more thing -- I thought Message in a Bottle was flat and I would give that spot to Forces of Nature, a romantic comedy that had the fun and great star performances that Message lacked. One thing I think we might agree on is: based on the movies I have seen so far, I think The Matrix will be the only one I will consider for a year-end Best of list."

E ME: Have you read my Best of The First 3.5 Months of 1999? Click here. Have you read the readers responses to Building The Matrix? Click here for Part One and here for Part Two? Are you rushing to a theater to see Life or Goodbye, Lover? Click here. Once you're done clicking, let loose the dogs of opinion.