I realised that I have never written a romantic comedy, well I’ll have to change that. Most romantic comedies have to have some silly obstacle that keeps our lovers apart until the finale, I mean there were two movies last year where the obstacle was that the two people are friends (No Strings Attached, Friends with Benefits). Well I’ve got a hell of an obstacle for my star crossed lovers:
Bipartisan
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Now I’m never one to cry racism (ok yes I am), but I just saw a new television ad for The Watch and it pissed me off. This is a film, that based off of the talent behind the camera, and the second trailer, and the inclusion of Richard Ayoade as a lead character, has me very curious. Yes it has Stiller and Vaughn in it, but this could be good.
Anyway what pissed me off was that it was one of those 30 second spots where in large font, they show the last name of one of the principal leads, and then a funny moment from that actor. The ad starts as you would expect with STILLER. then VAUGHN. then HILL. then it ends. No AYOADE. Why wouldn’t Ayoade get the big font tv ad treatment, if 3/4ths of the stars of the film get it? If your response is that he is not a household name like them, I guess I can agree, but why would he get billing in the trailer and not in the tv ad? Seems inconsistent. Also it just seems weird that you would highlight 3 members of a 4 member ensemble.
Simple solution: Give them all the big font treatment or none of them.
This shit happened with Ghostbusters and as a person of color, I guess these are the sorts of things that you notice in marketing. Winston (Ernie Hudson) had nothing to do with any of the ads, posters, promotional material, or videogames. He was a main character of a franchise that you would have never known was even in it because that is how it was sold. I don’t doubt the filmmakers just make the film they want without much concern over being exclusionary, but the directors don’t make the ads. Marketers do.
I’m putting you on notice The Watch marketers. Ya kinda being racially insensitive, but I’m still gonna see this movie cause it could be good, and could put Ayoade in a much better place in the US, and that’s a win for everyone.
Here’ s another movie that sounds so dumb but so real at the same time. I actually think the basic premise is a bit genius, and I’m ashamed to admit that. It started first as just a basic Kevin James talking animal film but, in a lovely twist of events, became more about the infinite monkey theorem. Enjoy.
A Thousand Monkeys
The film opens with a montage of an older woman doing work one morning around the house. She is doing laundry, which clearly belongs to a male. She is picking up toys around the house. She is cooking a big breakfast where the food is shaped like a smiley face. We see pictures on the wall of a little kid chronicling his history with a silly kids newspaper. The mother calls up to her son, Frank, as the camera zooms up the stair and into a room filled with toys and newspaper stuff (I don’t know what this means, I added the newspaper stuff at the end when I couldn’t think of a wrap up). The camera turns towards the bed and we see Frank, played by Jonah Hill, in a bed way to small for him snoring.
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