Monday, 10 July 2000

WEEKEND REVIEW

A reader wrote in: "I have the power to read minds. I sense you thought "holy s**t!" when viewing the numbers that sh***y comedy made Friday. Damn I am good."

Good indeed. This was a number that shocked everyone, including the other studios, who expected the good-tracking Scary Movie to do well, but not an estimated $42.5 million. As some of you wrote me over the weekend, the film did better on Friday ($16 million) than I predicted it would do over the whole weekend ($14.7 million). There is a good chance that Miramax overestimated Sunday so that Scary Movie would have the second best three-day opening of the summer, beating out The Perfect Storm by $1.2 million, but in this case, I can't get too riled. This is a stunning achievement. As one exec from a rival studio pointed out, Scary Movie filled a void in the summer for young audiences looking for silly fun. Me, Myself & Irene just didn't take off.

The Perfect Storm estimated a reasonable 35 percent drop to $27 million. There seems little doubt that the film will become the second film of the summer to pass $200 million and unless things turn ugly, it should pass up Mission: Impossible 2 to "win" the summer. The Patriot reported a 31 percent drop to $15.5 million, bringing its total to $65.5 million in its fight to get to $100 million domestic. Disney's The Kid opened to a soft $12.5 million. Chicken Run reported a 23 percent drop, which puts it on pace to battle The Patriot for placement in the summer's final tally. And Me Myself & Irene took another 40 percent drop.

THE GOOD: The naysayers were wrong. Bryan Singer's movie version of X-Men works like a charm. For those of you who worry about the line between business and art in the film biz, this one is a doozy. Fox's Bill Mechanic decided that $80 million is what was a sane number for the production of X-Men. The movie, written to a budget tune of about $150 million, evolved. What did Fox get? A terrific, intimate film about real people with superpowers. Given that the film is unlikely to grossly disappoint any real X-Men fan and that it should open over $40 million, it will be a $100 million domestic movie and thus, a moneymaker. The question is, can this film that isn't really about the effects be a monster hit? And my answer... in this case...is, "Who cares?"

Bryan Singer and credited screenwriter David Hayter (uncredited writers include Christopher McQuarrie, James Schamus, Ed Solomon, Joss Whedon and John Logan) delivered a film that leaves no character unturned. Sure, Storm and Cyclops didn't get a terribly rich moment between them. But Hugh Jackman is not only a great and believable Wolverine, he is clearly a movie star in the making. Anna Paquin is fragile and perfect as the film's self-doubting Rogue. Ray Park and Tyler Mane are a fun guy teaming and Rebecca Romjin-Stamos has a real presence in mostly silent scenes, leaving one wondering whether she might be one of the few who can successfully make the model-to-actress transition. Oddly, even in a smallish role, Famke Janssen has one of her best roles, playing a depth of kindness, not a dangerous bitch. And the Ian McKellen - Patrick Stewart relationship really brings the whole party into focus. (Watch for McKellen's spin on an earlier Bryan Singer-directed role.)

At this weekend's junket, the reaction by the press was so positive, it seemed to even take Bryan Singer by surprise. Of course, he only finished the film a week ago, so he hasn't really had any time to get perspective until this weekend. One of the elements that really surprises in this final version is that the score by Michael Kamen is almost always subtle and in the background. Singer doesn't pump up the volume very often, allowing the action to play more realistically than a "superhero movie" might normally be expected to play. Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel does wonderfully clean and effective work in this, his third film for Singer. And editors Steven Rosenblum, Kevin Stitt and John Wright did yeoman's work, though I must say that there were a couple of scenes I would have cut a little tighter...all of them action, not the dramatic dialogue scenes.

If there was a superhero movie that X-Men reminded me of, it was the more serious side of the first Richard Donner Superman movie. That's ironic, as Donner's wife, Lauren Shuler Donner is one of the producers of the film. If X-Men is missing anything, it is the truly spectacular visual moment. Superman and Lois Lane flying over New York...your first look at the Batcave... the opening dance club sequence of Blade...just arresting stuff. The core of this movie is the relationship between Wolverine and Rogue. And though it offers few visual fireworks (lots of beautiful images, but few that you really haven't seen in some form before), its depth and humanity was worthy of shed tears, particularly in one scene in the third act. And Singer made the best use of the effects budget he had with such flinty choices as having Toad scurrying up a wall behind the action without ever cutting to a close-up, emphasizing the obvious.

As you can tell, I enjoyed this movie. The question will be multiple viewings. This is definitely a film you will watch a number of times on cable. But will you pay for it a second and third time? Like I said, "Who cares?" The film is going to make money and whether it is a hit or a massive hit simply doesn't matter. The die has been cast. A "cheap" CG superhero movie can be made effectively. But beware to all those who will attempt to follow in X-Men's footsteps...you'd better make sure you have a Bryan Singer-level talent at the helm. This is not a trick for a video or commercial director turned feature dude. Singer tells the story as though the effects and the mutant powers are just another element. They are there, but they are not what the movie is about.

Keep an eye out for footage from the junket, including a World Exclusive, as Wolverine and Rogue do a duet, in the next couple of days.

THE BAD: Now Mike Myers is screaming about a counter-suit against Universal and Imagine. What is his argument? The process server was rude when he served Myers the legal papers. I'm not making that up. That is the only affirmative argument Myers offered the press when announcing his counter suit. To be fair, I have gotten a couple of e-mails from people who worked closely with Myers and who had very, very positive experiences. Still and all, it sure feels like we are watching the self-destruction of a very talented man.

THE UGLY: I've gotten a lot of e-mail regarding the pull-quote from this column for Fox's Me, Myself & Irene. So, I've decided to reprint my complete comments on the film, so you can judge fairly. It's pretty ironic.

From The Hot Button, June 8, 2000

I'm going to give you a quote whore quote here. It will never be quoted because I am on the web and I guarantee that they won't need to dip in the webfolk for pull quotes on this movie. That said, Me, Myself & Irene is the funniest movie of 2000, the funniest movie of 1999 and likely to be the funniest movie into 2001, when The Farrellys' Stuck on You comes out. No doubt, it's the funniest movie I've seen since There's Something About Mary. I don't know quite how the Farrellys do it. There are other funny guys in this business. But what is singular about this duo is that they handle the throttle better than any comedy director out there, switching speeds as the movie progresses in ways that you never, ever see coming. I love Harold Ramis' work and I think that Frank Oz is remarkable. Jonathan Lynn sometimes lets the material get the better of him, but the guy knows how to make it happen. I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two directors here now. But the Farrellys are the only ones I can think of who could take a one-man schizophrenic side show and keep the joke going for the run of a movie. It reminds me a little of Ramis' Groundhog Day work, but there, the structure really took hold and drove the comedy wonderfully. Here, you get every possible variation on the theme. And they subtly weave the tapestry as you go along. It's not a subtle movie. But the work is brilliantly so, every now and again allowing for moments that are just 100 percent Jim Carrey.

I don't want to tell you too much about the movie. It's you basic boy meets girl meets schizophrenic other half of boy loses girl fights to get her back with himself road movie. But it's more than that. It's a family comedy with a family that will compete for status with The Klumps far more than Big Momma ever could. It's a thriller, though not really. It's a sex farce, though only for Jim Carrey, not Renee Zellweger. And it's an uplifting spiritual look at.... bull...it's an all-out, semen-free, anything for a laugh, rolling in the aisle comedy.

"More Ugly, A Bad Ad & Three Readers On Spike"