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Maxwell Smart Set to Bury 'Guru' in Clash of Stinky Summer Titans
Posted by Defamer Hollywood at 2:15 AM on June 21, 2008
Welcome to another edition of Defamer Attractions, your regular guide to what's new, noteworthy and/or nightmarish this week at the movies. Today we hold our noses for the aromatic opening-weekend duel of Get Smart and The Love Guru, crack open the L.A. Film Festival catalog for a bit of a desperately needed counterprogramming, and handpick a few fine new DVD's for the agoraphobes among us. As always, our opinions are our own, but as long as they don't involve Manoj Night Shyamalan's box-office viability, they're also without peer.
WHAT'S NEW: For the second consecutive week, a pair of critical underachievers square off at the multiplex. But while the noisy, mostly terrible Get Smart is something of a masterpiece compared to The Love Guru, we expect both to lock in for decent opening frames; estimates below $40 million seem conservative for Smart, and Guru, almost-unilaterally loathed as it is, will still pull around $22 million from teenagers not knowing any better. Watch out, though, for Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, the first film based on the popular doll brand; opening in limited release in markets featuring American Girl stores, this will eventually pull every 10-and-under girl (and her mother) into a theatre near you.
Also opening: The Santa Monica parking ticket romance Expired and the arranged-marriage-in-London drama Brick Lane.
THE BIG LOSER: We may not actually have one this week, though were taking early wagers on The Love Guru's second-week plunge. We'll even sweeten the deal: Winning bets on anything less than 70% pay double!
THE UNDERDOG: The first weekend of the L.A. Film Festival offers a pretty diverse assortment of programming — and, alas, quality — but we'd be derelict in our underdog-reporting duties if we didn't single out the tiny, riveting Thai entry Wonderful Town (Saturday at 7 p.m., AMC Avco 4). Aditya Assarat's story follows a big-city architect dispatched to oversee a luxury hotel project in the ruins of the 2004 tsunami; culture clash and doomed romance ensue to ultimately shocking degrees, but Assarat's handle on melancholy (as well as the rich, hazy inland landscapes) thwarts the potential for melodrama. This will likely return in limited release from its distributors at Kino, but why wait? Plus it will make you that much cooler when eventually recommending it to latecoming friends.
FOR SHUT-INS: New DVD's include Michel Gondry's sweding buddy picture Be Kind Rewind, the must-not-have Mashew McConauhdgrl/Kate Hudson collaboration Fool's Gold, Alison Eastwood's mildly underrated directing debut Rails and Ties, the Martin Lawrence offering Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, and Grant Gee's extraordinary, anecdote- and interview-heavy rock documentary Joy Division.
So are you getting Smart this weekend, or are you sucking it up for 100 minutes with Guru Pitka? Any LAFF recommendations we should take in? Will Be Kind Rewind be more ironic than ever on DVD? Be honest! Share your plans, and look us up if you're planning a Westwood festival sojourn.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
WGARefugee
Posted 3:06 AM 21/6/08
A.O. Scott had a review of Love Guru that's probably much funnier than the moo-vie. Probably no bearing on B.O.--this is the land of freedom fries after all:
"Please don't misunderstand: I'm not opposed to infantile, regressive, scatological humor. Indeed, I consider myself something of a connoisseur. Or maybe a glutton. So it's not that I object to the idea of, say, witnessing elephants copulate on the ice in the middle of a Stanley Cup hockey match, or seeing a dwarf sent flying over the same ice by the shock of defibrillator paddles. But it will never be enough simply to do such things. They must be done well."
[movies.nytimes.com]
WGARefugee
Losin_it
Posted 2:56 AM 21/6/08
@Ozyman666: When Roger Ebert speaks, I listen. Okay, Love Guru it is.
Losin_it
Sleepyhead
Posted 2:50 AM 21/6/08
My predictions -
Love Guru $42 million. (Absolute shit, brain dead Myers fans review proof, inexplicable Austin Powers goodwill, heat wave.)
Get Smart $33 million (Only mostly shit, limited remake appeal, heat wave.)
Sleepyhead
AmazonRedheadedUberVixen
Posted 2:49 AM 21/6/08
@DorothyZbornak: Looks like I picked the wrong weekend to stop sniffing glue.
AmazonRedheadedUberVixen
Ozyman666
Posted 2:39 AM 21/6/08
I don't know, Ebert loved Get Smart - three and a half stars.
Ozyman666
BowlingForDollars
Posted 2:36 AM 21/6/08
Ah, Mike Myers. No amount of press can make up for the fact that everyone in Hollywood think you are a giant ASS.
But I also must admit the fantastic airbrushing of Anne Hathaway, not to mention that fabulous trenchcoat, has me curious for her Agent 99.
BowlingForDollars
Macloserboy
Posted 2:35 AM 21/6/08
@DorothyZbornak: Isn't that every weekend?
Macloserboy
DorothyZbornak
Posted 2:26 AM 21/6/08
Looks like this is a good weekend to stay home and get drunk.
DorothyZbornak
NoGrumpys
Posted 2:24 AM 21/6/08
I'm going to perform at Dodgers Stadium this weekend and miss every thing
(I use the word MISS loosely)
NoGrumpys
Lala11_7
Posted 3:44 AM 21/6/08
@not.a.clever.name: I'll bring the hot wings, blue cheese dressing, strawberry wine....oh yeah...and LOTS OF KLEENEX!!!
Lala11_7
not.a.clever.name
Posted 3:24 AM 21/6/08
I think I'll just stay inside and weep about the current state of popular culture.
not.a.clever.name
jimmyjamman
Posted 3:12 AM 21/6/08
I think Get Guru will take in less than 100 mil. The Incredible Ironman will finish at 200 mil.
jimmyjamman
SomnambulantHobbit
Posted 3:12 AM 21/6/08
How sad, I grew up watching old reruns of Get Smart and now my kids watch them. I was really pulling for the movie. Silly me.
SomnambulantHobbit
Benovite
Posted 5:12 AM 21/6/08
I'm opting to jump in my convertible with my girl and have fun!
(or jump in my girl with my convertible)
Benovite
ilikenoisycocktails
Posted 4:55 AM 21/6/08
The Love Guru vs Get Smart: Even Stepvhen.
ilikenoisycocktails
CrankYank
Posted 5:41 AM 21/6/08
@CrankYank: Apologies, WGA, that comment was aimed @Sleepyhead.
CrankYank
CrankYank
Posted 5:40 AM 21/6/08
@WGARefugee: I'd reverse 'em. Too many of the people who used to run out to see Mike Myers movies are now too busy running after two year olds. And Get Smart smells enough like a good, funny movie that it'll get people in the door.
I'll be home alternating old Get Smart and Carrell/Daily Show clips. Let us pray to God that Colbert never tries to start opening movies, and thus ends up in middlebrow crap. He's allowed small character parts.
CrankYank
RaptorAvatar
Posted 5:26 AM 21/6/08
I own a projector and a PA system, so I'm thinking marathon of "Primer", "Theodore Rex", "Repo Man", and "Slipstream."
RaptorAvatar
quinticire
Posted 6:27 AM 21/6/08
"Guru" will top the weekend box office and will surpass the $100 million mark by the end of next weekend. Not enough of the coveted 13-35 moviegoers know Get Smart, thus will flock to see Myers instead. Welcome to the new millennium.
Listen and read "Slate"'s sordid review:
[www.slate.com]
quinticire
hortense
Posted 7:10 AM 21/6/08
This is the moviegoing public that sent "Meet the Spartans" to the top of the box office.
Sadly, I see great things for Guru Pitka.
hortense
magnets
Posted 10:04 AM 21/6/08
@CrankYank: Colbert has a part in The Love Guru dude. In terms of fictional evil it's like being the director of the Morris Brown band in Drumline vs. being an underling in the Galactic Empire, it's up to you to determine which is worse I guess
magnets
jane919925
Posted 12:38 AM 22/6/08
Suggestion for LA Film Fest: Barry Jenkin's "Medicine for Melancholy."
From Variety: "San Francisco-set love story follows a young black couple in the morning hours after hooking up as they walk the city streets and confront issues of class, identity and race in the rapidly gentrifying urban landscape. The film stars Wyatt Cenac ("King of the Hill," "The Daily Show") and Tracy Heggins."
I can't recommend it enough. Saw it at the Boston Indie Fest in April and loved it. Where so many young directors take material and ideas like this and make them pretentious and outright ugly visually, Jenkins has made a genuine, visually beautiful film. Just picked up by IFC, I guarantee you'll be hearing about it nonstop in months to come so see it now!
jane919925
regisgoat
Posted 9:00 PM 22/6/08
I skipped Love Guru and saw Get Smart instead. Oh, jeeeeeeeesus was it unfunny. And Peter Segal would not train the camera on Anne Hathaway. Instead he kept going back to take in moe of Steve Carrel's bewilderingly popular crying-on-the-inside clown routine. Anyway, yes, Smart over Guru, 65% drop in Guru's revenues second week after everyone, even people in Manitoba, gets the word out about it.
regisgoat
regisgoat
Posted 3:49 AM 23/6/08
Oh, Variety says Guru opened at #4, with $14 million. Can we describe this film as "underperforming"?
regisgoat
britneyspearstears
Posted 7:34 AM 24/6/08
@NoGrumpys: Oh, do elaborate.
britneyspearstears
UnklStinky
Posted 11:14 AM 24/6/08
@NoGrumpys: @NoGrumpys:
"Dodgers Stadium"? Are you Yakov Smirnoff?
UnklStinky