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Derivative of What Now?

Christopher Campbell
By Christopher Campbell posted 5 months ago
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I’ve seen Run, Fatboy, Run a couple times now (read my SXSW review), and I’ll still recommend it for Dylan Moran alone. But I’ll also agree that it’s far from great. In fact, it has a lot of flaws, most of which stem from the film’s uneven pace (perhaps fitting for a comedy about a marathon?) and the lack of a definite goal (ill-fitting for a comedy about a marathon — the movie has no real narrative finish line, only a literal one). I’ll even concur with the criticisms that it is awfully conventional, though I believe that by nature comedy has to be conventional in at least some way in order to function correctly.

However, the one thing I will not tolerate in negative reviews of Run, Fatboy, Run, of which there are many, is its being called a derivative romantic comedy. Derivative, sure; as I mentioned, it is conventional, and it is predictable, and it does seem very, very familiar, plot-wise (name me 10 classic comedies that aren’t). But romantic comedy? I can’t say exactly how many critics are labeling the film as such, but going by blurbs found on Rotten Tomatoes, there are at least seven, including “top critic” Desson Thomas of the Washington Post. Sorry, guys, but that’s just lazy reviewing from lazy critics who aren’t even paying attention to a film’s story, let alone displaying a basic sense of film study. I may not have seen enough films from before I was born (because, of course, no critic can see enough), but at least I know the definition of romantic comedy. The meaning is right there in the genre name, after all.

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Meet Bill Trailer

Christopher Campbell
By Christopher Campbell posted 6 months ago
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Jessica Alba may be appearing in a lot of movies these days, but I wouldn’t exactly say she’s been keeping busy. It can’t be too much work to play the role of “Eye Candy” again and again and again. This time she plays a girl who is used in exploited for a vengeful ploy by a husband (Aaron Eckhart) to invoke jealousy in his cheating wife (Elizabeth Banks). The character could have been played by any pretty face (in fact Alba replaced Lindsay Lohan in the role), but Alba seems to be the most appropriately cast, because she’s one of the hottest actresses right now and yet she seems to be easily accessible to any filmmaker who wants to employ her. Last week we looked at another movie starring Alba, The Love Guru. In that she seems to have a more disposable role — she’s not really introduced until halfway through the trailer, and even then it’s unclear what purpose her character serves other than to invoke erectile gags from Mike Myers.

Meet Bill premiered last fall at the Toronto Film Festival, where it was merely titled Bill. Apparently it wasn’t met with much excitement, despite the obvious appeal of watching Eckhart as a sad-sack (unlike Alba, he’s cast against type) in a comedy that looks part classic screwball and part Rushmore (with roles switched all about). The odd thing about this trailer is that with Alba playing the part of “Eye Candy”, she ought to be featured wearing lingerie for marketing purposes (see trailers for Good Luck Chuck) rather than Banks. Sure, Banks is also gorgeous, but Alba is the one that Americans obviously prefer to be objectified.