Cheaters
I’ve been wrestling with Ron Howard‘s The Dilemma for 10 months, or since I first read an October 2009 draft of Allen Loeb‘s script, which was initially called Your Cheating Heart, a.k.a. Untitled Cheating Project. I didn’t agree with the basic set-up, which is that a semi-mature male in his 40s would be on the fence about whether to tell his best friend that his wife may be playing around. Friends always wise each other up. Anyone who would dither and/or procrastinate about levelling with a pal is no pal — it’s that simple.
The Dilemma shot last summer in Chicago and is now about to open on 1.14.14, or two weeks hence. Last October’s “gay” terminology dustup is over and done with, but no one’s seen the film yet…to my knowledge.
Right now I can say only one thing for sure, which is that Vince Vaughn and Steve James look a lot slimmer in the Dilemma one-sheet than they do in the film. They play a couple of extra-beefy auto designers who’ve hooked up with two svelte brunettes — James is married to Winona Ryder and Vaughn is living with Jennifer Connelly. (That’s believable, right?) Anyway, Vaughn seems to be somewhere between his Wedding Crashers and Swingers appearance, and James hasn’t been this slim since high school.
Vaughn and James “will play Chicago-based engine designers Ronnie Valentine and Isaac Backman,” I wrote last February. “Their significant others are Connelly’s Beth (Ronnie’s live-in girlfriend) and Ryder’s Geneva (Isaac’s wife). The central tension is about Ronnie accidentally discovering that Geneva is playing around on Isaac, and the anxieties and trepidations that stem from his not knowing what to do. Should he just blurt out the bad news to Isaac, his business partner and longtime best friend? And if he does, will Isaac somehow blame him for Geneva’s betrayal? Or should he mind his own business and stay out of the lives of others?
“I was immediately repelled by Ronnie’s response because — hello? — there’s only one thing to do. In such a situation his loyalty would be to his longtime friend, not the wife, and so one way or the other he’d have to share what he suspects. No right guy would have to think about this. He’d start out by stressing to his pal that he doesn’t really ‘know’ anything but that he’s seen something disturbing and that maybe something’s up and maybe not. And then he’d suggest that the friend might want to hire a shamus to learn the facts or whatever. But come what may you must share what you’ve seen and/or suspect.
“The fact that jabbering Ronnie — a guy who’s in denial about almost everything, and who fibs all the time like Alibi Ike and has trust issues with everyone — hems and haws throughout the story is infuriating. By my sights the guy has no convictions or cojones, and who wants to spend 110 minutes with a 13 year-old who mostly goes ‘homina-homina-homina’ when faced with a serious issue?”
The Dilemma is junketing in Chicago next weekend. I’m told that the first Chicago junket screening is on Thursday, 1.6. The first New York media screening is reportedly set for Tuesday, 1.11.
Kevin James? Seriously? Has any Oscar winning director ever (intentionally) sunk this low?
Sticky situation. Everybody is different. The right thing to do is to tell. But the right thing may not be the best thing in how the cheated on responds. I would go the the cheater first and tell them that you know. Tell them to break it off with their lover or divorce the husband.
Being cheated on is one of the worse, gut wrenching things you can ever feel without dying or have come down ill with an incurable disease. You can become physically ill. You have never thought so much at any one time on your life after you catch someone cheating on you. It’s another emotional stratosphere. I was cheated on for about 6 months. I felt like I knew but couldn’t catch them. I had no proof. But that period is also hell. Playing the game is brutal as well.
You never know how the cheated on will react. Some people find out and slip into a deep, deep depression. Some people have taken their own life being cheated on. It definitely is a dilemma if you know a good friend is being cheated on.
That’s the thing though…
I don’t think this looks THAT bad, I don’t believe it COULD be that bad.
I know that Ron Howard can be and is sometimes derided as a straightforward or bland director, I know at least two smart movie people who refuse to see ANYTHING he’s associated with and call him out at every turn.
But it’s highly unlikely that he’s going to make some insane 180-degree detour from solid, straight-shooter bronze-hued Oscar bait and Tom Hanks epics to pure Fockers-style dick-and-vomit Paul Blart bullshit. At the very worst isn’t this going to be in that genteel, vaguely styleless Night Shift, Splash, The Paper mode of yore?
Again, I know he has detractors, but do even those people think nice old Ron Howard is going to go off and make something as aggressively obnoxious as even “Couples Retreat”? And does no one else at least see it as somewhat encouraging that he’s doing something more in his “light” wheelhouse again, after 15 years of trying to convince us, “Hey, guys, I can be dark and broody too!”
More pressing thing about that poster: Whose HAIR is more dubious??? I will never understand what Vaughn’s hair is all about, since he’s been receding his first-term Clinton but then the actual hairs on the top have the thickness of Gian Maria Volante.
James has THE most obvious rug in contemporary film, outside of this new hilarious thing where Tim McGraw has a full head of hair after rocking the Peter Boyle loss for 20 years on stage.
I was in a similar situation twice and both times I said something to my friends. I felt I had to. Both times the couples broke up briefly and got back together again. So then that put me in a VERY bad situation with their partners. One of the partners pretty much hates me and won’t have anything to do with me and so my friend has stopped hanging around me to keep the peace.
I once had lunch with a female friend and asked her, “If I found out your husband was cheating on you, do you want me to tell you?” And she said she would rather not now.
Jesus, moviegal…that’s far more serious consideration than any Kevin James flick truly deserves.
Next thing you’ll tell me you wrote your master’s thesis on Hitched…
Well, as a female, I would explain to a close friend of either gender the situation that lead me to believe their spouse was cheating, but wouldn’t actually say the words “I think s/he’s cheating”. The messenger is always shot, but nonetheless, being tactfully honest is vital. For example a conversation may go, “I saw Bob in the lobby bar of the Hyatt three nights ago. I waved but he didn’t see me. He was talking and laughing with that redhead from accounting.”
As for this film, it does not look particularly enthralling. Vince Vaughn is one of the more boorish specimans of leading men around. He’s a terrible writer to boot.
What Lex said. Even if Ron Howard wanted a paycheck– and really, this must be about that, he’s gotta be financing an Arrested Development movie or something– he’s still Ron Howard. Competence and charm, at the very least. Like Eastwood without an ability (yet) to make poetry.
BTW, looking over the filmography… holy crikes, I forgot he made the Dan Brown films. I guess maybe he’s more in debt to some bank than we thought…
(FWIW, while I’ve never outright disliked anything he’s done, there’s only one film of his that is flat-out perfect: Apollo 13. Movie fires on all cylinders, it’s compulsively rewatchable on television, it’s just great, smart entertainment all around).
The answer is probably in the casting and the detail that they’re business-partners as well as friends.
Vaughn’s “thing” is playing guys who’re basically decent but primarily self-interested and a little asshole-ish. James’ “thing” is being vulnerable-but-also-”stocky”-so-it’s-okay-for-him-to-be-sad. One imagines the idea is that “the dilemma” is less “is it my place to tell him?” than it is “if I tell him, will he get depressed and screw up our business and/or throw my comfortable life out of whack?”
Also: In the screenplay, are the two WOMEN friends as well? Because if so, that’s a WHOLE other ballgame.
Ron Howard is fucking tired. I used to know a manager at a movie theater at my hometown who said that Ron Howard paid to see Cinderella Man ten times, which is so fucking lame. He has the choice of some of the best scripts in Hollywood, and he picks sitcom shit like this. And what was his Apollo 13 followup? Fucking EdTV. He’s a shitty filmmaker who lucked into some good material once or twice but brings NOTHING to the table. Ron Howard being so powerful and influential is like if Jon Turtletaub ran Dreamworks or something. And his daughter can’t act. I have no respect for a billion dollar filmmaker who says YES to the fucking DAVINCI CODE when he’s already got a resume of critically acclaimed audience pleasers on his resume, and then uses his newfound blockbuster clout to work with FUCKING KEVIN JAMES.
that’s a good point, Bob. From the trailer and the concept, I (like Jeff) wasn’t really clear on what the dilemma was. It seems to be that it’s “Should I tell or not?” which makes no sense as a dilemma. It would be cool if the trailer went the Pulp Fiction route, actually defined dilemma (which people generally misuse, and I bet is misused here), and then explained why it was situation where either choice would result in a negative.
“At the very worst isn’t this going to be in that genteel, vaguely styleless Night Shift, Splash, The Paper mode of yore?”
I’m sorry, I have to step up here. I totally agree with your overall point, but are we really suggesting that the *worst* this movie could be is a Michael Keaton movie? That’s crazy, ‘Night Shift’ and ‘The Paper’ rank fairly highly in his ouevre.
Surely the worst this could be has to be ‘EdTV’, right? And that’s pretty terrible.
“He’s a terrible writer to boot.”
I don’t necessarily think you’re wrong, but — just to play devil’s advocate — I take it you’re basing this charge on Couples Retreat, yes? Let’s not forget that screenplay has two other credited writers on it. And while I’m likely to give Favreau the benefit of the doubt based on his two solo scribing efforts, I certainly do not extend that same courtesy to Dana Fox (which incidentally sounds like a pseudonym taken up by an X-Files fan-fictioner).
God, Howard directed this one? Must’ve tuned out to all further info on this flick the minute I saw Kevin-fucking-James was in it. The current living “red flag” for mediocrity, if ever there was one.
Seriously, the guy’s never done anything remotely edgy or risk-taking in his entire career — anything he’s in is, at best, straight-down-the-middle bland and tasteless, from his sitcom to his inexplicable movie career.
In addition to Apollo 13, I thought Frost/Nixon was pretty good. Straightforward, bland direction, no doubt, but I didn’t think that style was necessarily inappropriate for the subject matter at hand. Grand Theft Auto (NOT the videogame) was also fun.
Conclusion: Keep Opie in the ’70s and he’s O.K. Kinda.
Kaned – I gave him more credit for ‘Frost / Nixon’ (which was good, yes) before I found out that pretty much the only active directorial choice he made was adding the documentary-style talking head cutaways that were so terrible.
You get to play a game with Howard’s films. Keep watching until you spot the shitty part he’s given to his younger brother Clint. Spotting Clint is the equivalent to the Hitchcock cameo.I
Except for the fact that of course Hitchcock’s cameos are inevitably AWESOME.
Yes, isn’t it upsetting that Kevin James doesn’t take *risks*. If only there’d been a part for him in Black Swan. He’s a generally likable sitcom actor who’s managed to transition into sitcommy movies. You either like that sort of thing or you don’t, but he probably doesn’t have the desire or skill set to be Daniel Day-Lewis. A little perspective.
Wow… I’m a little surpised at some of the Ron Howard hate. I don’t think of him as a phenomenal director but I think he’s a solid filmmaker more than not. Cinderella Man was one of my faves of 2005. I also thought Apollo 13, The Missing and Cocoon to be very good films. Parenthood and Backdraft not too bad either. Ransom was OK. And I admit Far and Away is a slight guilty pleasure. I know I didn’t hate it. He won the Oscar for A Beautiful Mind and from just a basic filmmaking standpoint and performances, I thought that to be solid as well.
Has he churned out some bores ? Sure. But almost every director has.
There are lierally a TON of worst directors in Hollystrange than Ron Howard.
…and isn’t “Dark Tower”: that Stephan King epic somewhere not too far off (reportedly being made for both theatrical and television, no less)?
That should be…interesting.
Gabe is nuts:
That anecdote about Ron Howard PAYING to watch his own movie 10 times, if it’s true, is easily the awesomest thing I’ve ever heard about Ron Howard. Shit, if I made a movie, I’d watch it three times a day every day of its run then stand in the lobby after smirking like a total asshole.
Also the dumbest concept of modern civilization is “bros before hos.” Fuck THAT. Who needs a bro? Who gives a SHIT about having male friends? Sex at ALL costs should be the only bullshit man code of ethics and honor. You can always get new friends, but pussy only comes around once or twice every twenty years.
Lex, if you were Terry Malick after New World, or Neveldine/Taylor after Crank, I would understand. But goosing the numbers of fucking Cinderella Man?
You know what? I confess, I haven’t seen Cinderella Man. In fact, years ago, I declared I was fucking done with Ron Howard, and I haven’t looked back (though I was hornswaggled into the Da Vinci movies). I caught a bit of The Missing and mourned what a real filmmaker would have done with that ridiculous material. Maybe Howard is a secret genius. But I’m pretty sure he’s simply a middlebrow point-and-shooter. I’m sure January 11th will only add credence to this, since I’ll have to sit through this damned movie.
What worries me is people not going to see it because they don’t what the word “dilemma” means.
I’m surprised that this is a Ron Howard jem. I don’t expect much from him, but I expect better than this (never did see any of the Da Vinci code flicks tho).
And Lex, a guy should try to have solid friendships with at least one or two guys. Being friends with women is great but it has been my experience that you need both perspectives.
Clint Howard is awesome. Say what you want about Ron, but leave Clint outta this.
Also the dumbest concept of modern civilization is “bros before hos.” Fuck THAT. Who needs a bro? Who gives a SHIT about having male friends? Sex at ALL costs should be the only bullshit man code of ethics and honor. You can always get new friends, but pussy only comes around once or twice every twenty years.
Shit, and here I thought *I* knew what dry spells were.
Dude, anyone can get pussy. The only issue is how picky you are.
Friends? *Real* friends, friends you can count on, friends who last a long damn time, or even a lifetime? Shit, ain’t nothing rarer than that.
Besides, the best thing about friends is that you have someone to complain to when your woman of the month/year/decade freaks out over Every. Last. Fucking. Thing. Or, better yet, NOT complain to, and instead grab a damn beer.
Chicago seems like the worst city in America– all these doughy white sports fans with that HORRIBLE fucking accent, that terrible blues music, that outsize civic pride. It’s like the John Cusack version of Pittsburgh. I was there for 12 hours once and didn’t catch any of the Belushi Continental Divide-style magic of Chicago that’s been shoved down our collective throats for the last 30 years.
Dan Revill: I work in a sausage-fest office and occasionally rally the troops for a strip club endeavor and once in a blue moon might see a movie with another dude, but hanging out with DUDES is THE worst thing in the world.
Like, I don’t know that I’d even enjoy talking to Taylor Momsen on the fucking phone, let alone having your BROS call you up while you’re ON LINE somewhere for meaningless banter.
Any guy who regularly gets more than one phone per year from ANOTHER DUDE and isn’t gay, is just an infant.
Roll with a chick or roll solo. Only.
(White Sox? Who are they?)
2005 World Champions?
(Don’t you sass my hometown, ya here?)
Never mind James’s hair, look at the two HUGE airbrushed foreheads on both of them.
I’m interested in female reactions to this film. An attractive woman married to a fat shlub has an affair with a hot young stud. Isn’t that every woman’s fantasy? And yet Ryder’s character comes across as a conniving bitch. WTF?
Heh, good point, MikeSF:
Yeah, hot-ass Winona Ryder, so incredibly hard to believe she’d cheat on Kevin James with Channing Tatum. That’s be kinda like a movie villainizing Robert Downey Jr for cheating on Lupe Ontiveros to bang Scarlett Johansson.
Awww, hell Lex… here I was, just beginning to like you after all these years, and you have to rag on Chicago. CHICAGO?
People hate New York City. People hate Los Angeles. People hate lots of cities.
But honestly, who hates Chicago? ‘
Sure, there are things I hate about Chicago– I left the city for college, after all. You can’t live in one place for your entire life, not in America, it’ll kill your soul real fast.
But I love going home. And I’d live there again in a heartbeat if I had a portable career. Summers along the lakeshore, spring watching baseball, gangway parties in the fall, fishing trips to Wisconsin, bar hopping for New Year’s. Great food, great architecture, great art, great music, hot girls who know how to rock a baseball cap, homes you can actually afford.
Shit, if it wasn’t for the traffic (terrible, but where isn’t it?) and taxes (effin’ Daley), it’d be just about perfect.
It looks terrible. How do Vaughn/James keep getting work? How fucked up is that?
Misrule, I shudder when I heard Howard is involved in the dark tower movies. I won’t be good. The books are ok, but with seven of them, are they going to make seven movies?
Gabe, if Ron Howard paid to see Cinderella Man ten times it was not to goose the numbers.
For what it’s worth, Frost/Nixon was pretty damn good although I can’t get myself to watch it a second time, the same with Cinderella Man.
When all is said and done, the saddest thing about this movie for me is that at one point the mere prospect of a film with Winona Ryder AND Jennifer Connelly would have given me a raging hard-on for a sold week. Those days are long gone.
And moviegal is right – every situation is different. I didn’t tell my friend about the one time I was pretty sure his girlfriend was cheating on him because he had cheated on her with more than one woman. Luckily they (mostly he) both reformed and are still together, and worked out whatever issues they have without my help.
anon2 – yeah, I love a guy who fancies himself an expert on movies not knowing that a fair majority of working filmmakers buy tickets to go see their movies to see how they play with an actual paying audience.
Chicago-y.
Parenthood is a terrific film. Very truthful. More truthful than many fake, pretentious dark Suburbia films (Little Children, American Beauty, etc…)
That movie’s over 20 years old and I still find myself thinking about it. Not a steadfast Howard guy (The Grinch is unwatchable), but I will stand by Parenthood.
Obviously a filmmaker has to see how a movie’s playing in front of a paying audience. But ten fucking times for Cinderella Man?
Ransom is still one of my favorite Gibson movies.
Kind of weird that Hall Pass comes out a month later. I wonder which one will be better received.
“Roll with a chick or roll solo. Only.”
And you wonder why you’re lonely.
Honestly, try hanging out with guys. It’s actually nice to be able to talk to people you’re not trying to bang. At the very least, you can do things with a guy that you can’t really do with a girl. Wild, crazy shit that you tell your kids not to do because you’re lucky you didn’t die/get arrested.
The Thing, sorry, bro, I’m not an 18 year old kid who needs to go fucking cow tipping. I’m pushing 40. I do not enjoy the company of most dudes. I do not enjoy that bullshit ball-busting that comes with a GUYS’ NIGHT OUT!, which, no offense, always sounds a little gay to begin with. Like I said, I’m good for a strip club run or the occasional bachelor party, but by and large I don’t want any dudes around when I party, because pretty much every single dude in the world is better at picking up women than I am, so I always end up holding up a wall.
And I’m sure this tangent is one step away from a Wells “Fascinating stuff” snarky intrusion, which would be MORE than warranted here, but even Jeff himself might relate to just not being, sorry, much of a SPORTS GUY. To the extent that I watch a little football and like the Steelers, I don’t need a roomful of George Wendt-looking motherfuckers stuffing their face with Bugles and lighting farts in a baseball hat to enjoy a game, or to enjoy anything in life.
In general, men are such unbelievable and repulsive fucking tools that I WOULD NOT BLAME ALL OF WOMANHOOD if they went 100% lesbian.
Seriously, most dudes don’t even TAKE A SHOWER after using the bathroom. I can hardly believe any chick would even let any dude within twenty feet of them.
What is there NOT to like about Cinderella Man ? It was well acted first off and the boxing ( for being depression era ) was solid. Don’t you like a true story of over coming huge odds in the face of darkness and cold ? I understand if you don’t like boxing in general, but that, much like The Fighter, is only used for the metephor, it’s simply about not giving up or giving in when everyone has on you through a terrible situation. Look into the real Jim Braddock story. It’s a uplifting one. And lets hope this country doesn’t go into a full blown depression like then…if ya think things might be sucking for you now….
Oh…and on a pure filmmaking point, this film does have some impressive filmmakers attached. I think the verdict it’s still early on screenwriter Allan Loeb ( The Things We Lost In The Fire, 21, Wall Street 2 ) but there’s also the impressive editing team of Dan Hanley and Mike Hill ( multiple Oscar nominees ) the cinematogrpher is a pretty good one, Salvatore Totino ( Any Given Sunday, Changing Lanes ) and then bigtime Oscar winner Hans Zimmer scoring the flick. Maybe for this type of genre, the film won’t be as bad as people think.
Jesus Christ: Gabe is DONE with Ron Howard. What a surprise. Is there a filmmaker or actor he ISN’T done with???
Gabe FYI – we’re done with you.
gabe cracks me up with his completely predictable rants. wow, dude. “ron howard sucks.” you fucking renegade you. know how many ron howard movies i like? yeah, fucking none. and i doubt that’s ever going to change, but so what? so the guy makes middling, bland, inoffensive movies. so. the. fuck. what. does EVERYONE have to aspire to There Will be Blood levels of greatness? so the dude isn’t jim jarmusch–the fuck does it matter? it’s like getting pissed at britney spears for not being kate bush. and you’re still an asshat for your spoilery “review” of tron, you petulant brat.
lex, there’s a term for guys who are obsessed with projecting an image of “not being gay”– closet cases. suck a dick and stop hating yourself. or you can keep lusting after androgynous underage girls who have ironing board bodies–whichever gets you through the night, bro.
“Obviously a filmmaker has to see how a movie’s playing in front of a paying audience. But ten fucking times for Cinderella Man?”
No, you don’t understand. It isn’t about needing to see how it plays. At the point Ron Howard is at, he knows how to pull the strings in a movie like that; he knows how it’s going to play. You watch the audience because you enjoy watching how it plays, you enjoying watching the audience be overcome by the movie that you just spent a year or two of your life working on in what is essentially isolation. Say you spend a month editing a climactic boxing match, imagining the entire time how much the audience will love the triumphant moment. You’ve put so much time and thought into imagining that audience response, how can you not want to go and actually see it for yourself? I mean, ten times, if money is no object and he’s in his between project downtime, why not?
This isn’t me stepping up for Ron Howard as a director; I totally understand the idea of not wanting to waste any more time with his usual mediocrity (even though I agree with Lex that it’s generally more bland than outright bad), but it’s a really strange place you’re coming from to cite that as a negative thing. Most filmmakers could stand to watch their movies with a paying crowd and see what “brilliant” thing they did that they couldn’t bear to edit out completely lost the audience.
“Most filmmakers could stand to watch their movies with a paying crowd and see what “brilliant” thing they did that they couldn’t bear to edit out completely lost the audience.”
Oh, like we don’t get enough of that kind of shit already in the filmmaking process itself. You know what more directors could stand to do? Spend more time developing characters and writing dialogue — or even setting up cool shots — and stop being such fucking test-screening whores for their demographic. Seriously.
The vast majority of the time, the audience doesn’t really know what the hell it wants to see — and even the few times where they do, that doesn’t automatically mean they should be given that privilege. This is how you turn cinema into commercials. This is why Michael Bay is so goddamn popular.
CINDERELLA MAN was the longest trailer I’ve ever seen. Over two hours long! I waited for the movie to start and then realized that I wasn’t watching a trailer, I was watching a movie.! Can’t believe they let Ron Howard steal the music for THE ROAD TO PERDITION and use it in a totally different movie!
BILLY BATHGATE was a totally underrated movie. Excellent book.
LexG’s rant reminded me of Dan Clowe’s comic story on Chicago. And I can totally get where he’s coming from on the guy friend thing. I can only hang out with guys that I’ve known for a long time and they feel the same way so we rarely hang out at this point. But LexG should remember that scene in A BEAUTIFUL MIND where Russell Crowe figured out that mathematical theory to get all of his friends laid. Or become a male fag hag (I think they are called Dutch Boys).
Bobby, you make a good point. Phantasma, I wish I could spoil (haha!) Tron Legacy ten more times for you.
I’m really not just saying this because he was bagging on me above, which is fine and I can take, or because he’s such a dick to every single person here on a blog he CLEARLY has total contempt for (and has expressed as much a zillion times in his lame, undercapped posts)…
But “phantasmata” really IS one of the most aggressively stupid Hollywood Elsewhere commenters going, actually very unsung and underrated in that regard. Like JaySmack, he’s an underrated treasure trove of petty disses and mundane opinions dressed up in laughable hostility. Also the fact that he’s a WHAMMY-BAR GUITAR SOLOIST who runs a soundboard is just instant comedy.
Like, douche, does Gabe come onto your Steve Vai message boards and call everyone “faggots” once a day?
Seriously, this guy SUCKS.
This might be a decent flick, but I’ll wait until Glenn Kenny tells us what his father-in-law thinks.
I’m so late to this party that we’re at the vomit/passing out stage, but I was amused by the “Kevin James takes no risks!” thing above. Come on now, the dude has barely gotten his foot in the door of movie stardom. I’m sure that he, like everybody else on the planet in January 09 was not expecting Paul Blart to make $145 million. He’s suddenly been thrust into unlikely leading man status, so he’s still in the “Holy shit I’m a fucking movie star!” phase where he’s cashing in on playing the lovable fat doofus. He’s gonna rack up 5 or 6 more of these things before we even get into risk taking territory. I don’t think we, the audience, are ready for Kevin James as serial killer or Kevin James as Al Capone or Kevin James as pedophile neighbor just yet.
Not that I think Ron Howard is a tenth of the director John Ford was – but look at Ford’s filmography. He followed The Quiet Man with Mogambo, he followed The Searchers with The Wings of Eagles, he followed The Man who Shot Liberty Valance with Donavon’s Reef. Good directors make all kinds of films – and seldom place their serious work back-to-back. Now why Howard has chosen to spend the 5+ years on Stephen King’s The Dark Towers is beyond my understanding – but I think it’s wrong to criticize good filmmakers who choose diversity.
Kaned – comparing the test screening process with watching a finished film with an audience is just plain stupid (and I mean that with affection for your posts in general). The problem with the test screening process is *not* that you’re showing the movie to an audience and gauging their reaction. The problem with the test screening process is that there is an organization that puts a hard number on exactly what the audience thought about the movie as a whole and the individual elements (and, needless to say, pretends the number is scientific), and the studios force changes on filmmakers whether they make sense or not. This is not the same thing in any way, shape, or form as a filmmaker sitting down and watching how an audience that paid to see a movie (and, thus, was already interested in it) responds to that movie.
“You know what more directors could stand to do? Spend more time developing characters and writing dialogue — or even setting up cool shots”
Well, putting aside the fact that they’re in no way mutually exclusive (you’re saying that, after the movie is in theaters, Ron Howard should still be working on pre-producing it?), I would personally argue that we already have too many directors who try to write/re-write when they aren’t capable of it.
“setting up cool shots” for their own sake is not real directing, and it’s truly amazing to me that you’re citing that as the antithesis of Michael Bay filmmaking.
You know who spends all of his time writing dialogue and setting up cool shots and not any of it worrying about how to communicate with an actual audience? Richard Kelly.
Love Richard Kelly.
I really don’t know what to say to your post, man…you really find no similarities between watching a movie with an audience TEN times and the test-screening process? Two or three times, maybe, sure…but 10 times in a row? C’mon, man…
This is like directors that read EVERY single review of their movies. Unless you can somehow pre-internalize audience reactions to a film so it becomes part of one’s genuine artistic voice — like, say, Tarantino or Godard — this endlessly navel-gazing at the reactions to one’s films can NOT be a good thing.
Self-consciousness is almost always the enemy of art. Follow your muse unconditionally, not the whims of the audience.
No, because the test screening process is at a time when you can still re-cut the movie. A good director watches the movie with an audience during the test screening in order to make adjustments to make the film more effective. Generally speaking, according to most people who’ve been through the process, the negative side of test screening is not that, but is when the producers force cuts based on test scores which are arbitrarily determined and mean nothing to the success of the film.
Now, on the other hand, once the film is released, you’re getting something completely different. For better or worse, you let your breath out and accept that the film is done. And you want to see how a paying crowd responds. It’s a great release.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here — when the movie was under-performing, he wasn’t happy about that, but seeing actually paying people enjoy it heartily would be uplifting.
So, bringing up Tarantino as you did, I’m assuming that you’ve completely forgotten about the special features on the ‘Jackie Brown’ DVD, hm? Go back and watch the doc; skip to the post-production and release section of the movie and see if Tarantino actually gives a hard number for how many times he watched it with an audience, or just leaves it at “double digits”. Honestly, I’m not sure which it is, but he CLEARLY loves watching his movies with an audience. So, basically, it seems as if you’re saying that he gets a pass because he’s a better filmmaker. Which seems specious; Ron Howard is putting a huge effort into making a movie. Why shouldn’t he enjoy what is absolutely without question the best part of being a director? Is it really just because he’s not that good a director?
You guys are weird with what you hold against him.
Hear, hear. I hate the “bros before hos” ideal, not just because male bonding is not all it’s cracked up to be, but because it puts down women, who are better than men in most ways.
I think this movie will fail primarily because nobody will think Ryder is a villain for cheating on James with Tatum. Winona Ryder is still ridiculously good-looking, and though there ARE people that look like her married to people who look like Kevin James, it is a crime and everyone knows it.
I think this movie will fail primarily because nobody will think Ryder is a villain for cheating on James with Tatum. Winona Ryder is still ridiculously good-looking, and though there ARE people that look like her married to people who look like Kevin James, it is a crime and everyone knows it
I am a Hair extensions , Hair Wefts , Remy Hair, European Hair, Brazilian Hair Bulk supplier