Above are posters for two recently released movies that I never even bothered to give a second glance. A High School Musical rip-off and and another awful late era Robin Williams comedy - who cares? Then I stumbled across some reviews:
Bandslam (89% Rotten Tomatoes Rating)
“…pleasant and bright and doesn’t insult its audience’s intelligence. And that’s as rare and welcome as a well-crafted three-minute pop song.”
“…buoyant, gratifying and, yes, rocking.”
“…smart script consistently tweaks the formula, allowing director/cowriter Graff to pull off the near-impossible: making a movie that neither sells out nor talks down to teens.”
World’s Greatest Dad (83% Rotten Tomatoes Rating)
“…scandalously entertaining new satire proves a darker, funnier success.”
“…a well-directed dark comedy with the GOOD Robin Williams.”
I’m disappointed that I immediately discounted what, by all accounts, seem to be two well-crafted, entertaining movies with unique voices. More frustrating, however, is that whoever marketed these films was too lazy to try anything remotely original, and packaged them as watered down versions of the same bland old crap being cranked out by everyone else. I bet they’re looking at the returns for District 9 a kicking themselves. Right now, there’s no better proof of concept that you don’t have to trick us into seeing movies. Present an original concept creatively and honestly, and we will come.
I had the first impression with World’s Greatest Dad. I saw the poster on Apple’s quicktime page and I thought “more Disney bullshit from Robin Williams.” I watched the trailer and to my suprise, I found my self laughing my ass off at this really dark comedy. I then went on IMDB to find out who made this only to discover that it is written and directed by Bob Goldwaith. BOBCAT FUCKING GOLDWAITH.
So yeah, I’m gonna see World’s Greatest Dad. Fuck it, I’ll see Band Slam too.