Posted on 11/07/2004 8:06:00 PM PST by joedownthestreet
Paramount's "Alfie," a remake of a romantic comedy about a roguish womanizer starring Jude Law, opened to a dismal $6.5 million in more than 2,000 theaters, far below expectations. The tepid response was the latest blow to Sherry Lansing, the chairwoman of Paramount who last week announced her plans to leave the job when her contract expires in 2005, and whose movies have performed poorly this summer and fall.
Wayne Llewellyn, the president of distribution at Paramount, said that the conservative ethos reflected in last week's election results might have hurt the film.
"It could be the mood of the country right now," he said. "It seems to be the result of the election. Maybe they didn't want to see a guy that slept around."
Maybe the Red States want more John Waynes on the screen, in these uncertain times, rather than some overhyped scrawny twit.
"And if your horror is the discovery
that you had inflated celebrity and inept fans to
begin with, then we really don't want to hear about it."
Sweet.
You've been to finishing school.
Ever see Enemy at the Gate? With a rifle in his hand, he didn't look queer to me. (Sorry, that doesn't sound right)
Sherry Lansing was a Clinton, Gore and Kerry supporter. LIKE DUH.
Without true love we just exist, Alfie.
yeah, really. Me too.
If it doesn't have a yuppie getting his brains (?) sucked out by a gruesome, slime-encrusted, bug-eyed alien space monster, it's too "Thophithticated" for this here redneck, so, screw it.
Which is no doubt far better than this garbage redo.
GREAT post...BRAVO! :-)
They put out recycled movies from the 60's and expect people to watch...again..
All I could think of when I saw the title of the movie was the song, "What's It All About, Alfie?"
It stunk then. It stinks now.
Maybe the idea of doing a remake of Alfie was nutso from the get-go.
This is an example of what you get in a studio (or any business) when staff is too cowed to tell the boss she is off her frikkin' rocker.
I don't know how they made the first film, but I remember Michael Caine's Alfie...and the sad thing was that at the end of the movie, it showed how sad and empty his life of sleeping around was. (he is resentful against his girlfriend, tries to have her abort his son, makes his best friend's wife pregnant and cries when he sees the dead fetus, and at the end, you see him alone while his ex girlfriend gets married, and the son now has a new father...). You see that his life has no real meaning, and that this is due to his selfish choices.
Most Hollywood movies wouldn't have that moralistic ending...most hollywood movies would see Alfie types as the happy ones...wonder if the "new" Alfie celebrated or questioned the joys of promisucity? Anyone see it?
I remember the appeal of the original Alfie was its depiction of swinging London, which seemed intriguing and naughty in the mid-60's, with all the British accents and mod outfits. When they Americanized the latest version, it's like, yawn.
I teach in L.A., and after school I was walking up Sunset toward the bus stop (my car was on the blink) and there was this fellow standing outside a movie theater with a clip board. He asked me if I'd like to see a movie for free. I said "SURE!" and that was it. He signed me up, gave me a bulletin with the where & when information, and a week later I was down on... I think it was Melrose... in line with a bunch of other people.
After the movie was over, I was one of the last ones to leave because I was writing up and down the margins of my feedback form (I do so love to give advice, you see.) When I finally came out, only about 20 people were still milling about, and one of them actually was Jude Law. Really, I have nothing bad to say about him, he seems a handsome, charming enough fellow. Almost pretty, polite enough...
But yeah, the movie had no clear message. I've noticed that about Hollywood, the message to women is usually, "Don't settle for anything less than true love and searing passion." The message to men is usually, "All these nice women and you can't just pick one and settle down? What are you holding out for? What, no one's good enough for you? Putz!!"
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