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Dir: Greg Mottola (Superbad)   Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart 

Synopsis:  Set in the summer of 1987, a recent college grad  takes a nowhere job at an amusement park, only to find it's the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world. 

I am deeply afraid for humanity after learning that Fast and Furious took the number one spot at the box office this weekend, raking in about $70 million smackeroos.  I love the hot cars, but the success of this movie means that we’re evolving backwards.  I chose to see Adventureland (which didn’t even crack the top 5 --- boy can I pick em’!). 

Adventureland is the second major studio release directed by Greg Mottola, the dude who made the extremely successful “Superbad.”  I think that studio marketing gave this movie a not-so-great buzz.  The commercials lean heavily on the fact that it’s “from the guy who brought us Superbad”, really trying to align itself with that movie.  Even the poster (see above) has Superbad written right at the top. 

This is more and more of a problem lately.  Another example of marketing screwing up the intended audience for the movie is Seven Pounds with Will Smith.  The original trailers made the movie look like it was going to be a cool, freaky, mystery of some kind.  The actual movie was about Will Smith and Rosario Dawson falling in love.  Of course, once they have you convinced enough that you’ve bought a ticket and you’re sitting in the theatre, the studios are laughing.

Marketing in Hollywood is getting so bad that the marketing is actually driving the movie making instead of the other way around.  In the case of Fast and Furious, a writer didn’t have a story to tell.  Marketing people said, “ok, hot cars, hotter women --- we got ourselves a movie!”  They grab two crappy actors, throw a script together, and bam!  $70 million dollars on opening weekend.  Even if you’re appealing to marketing demographics, why not have a slick movie about street car racing that is well written enough to actually dig into that world and then get some decent actors to pull it off?  They aren’t even trying!  They are insulting our intelligence and we’re lining up to be insulted!   

The marketing should also be somewhat accurate to what you’re going to see on the screen, or it’s usually going to turn the audience off.  We sent some listeners to Adventureland’s preview screening last week and the reports that I got back were that they were expecting more goofy comedy and less of a good story.  Studio marketing has unfairly hurt the word of mouth on this little movie.   

Snakes on a Plane is another example.  Some studio types were having drinks and one of them scrawled “snakes on a plane” on a cocktail napkin.  Then they made a movie!  This is all wrong.  A movie should drive its marketing, not the other way around.  Don’t get me wrong, everything doesn’t have to be FILM.  I like a good popcorn movie as much as the next guy.  But it’s when they get you to the movie under false pretenses, or just throw some poop at the wall to see what sticks that I start getting hot under the collar.  Don’t even get me started on the subject of trailers that give away the twists in the story. 

HEY!  Isn’t there a movie review in here somewhere?  Here’s the thing --- Adventureland is actually pretty good.  It has some decent comedy, though it could have been funnier.  It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but it’s a sweet and satisfying coming of age story.  It has a believable and well told love story.  You actually root for these lovers, which means the story and characters are well written enough to engage you. I’m here to tell you that Adventureland is NOT Superbad.  But it is an appealing little movie. 

3 and a HALF Dorks out of 5 on the Geek-o-Meter.

Are there any other movies that were ruined for you by bad studio marketing?