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May 16, 2006

A Hollywood Summer Bummer

Hollywood revenues tanked last year on a cropper of crappy movies. Outside of the taut and moving United 93 nothing outside of the kiddie genre (Ice Age 2 was a hit for the twins and I'm looking forward to having my 11 y/o stepson visit so I have an excuse to see X-men) has me looking forward to ponying up the money and time to be subjected to the indulgences of movie by committee. Mission Incomprehensible is off my list, not just because Cruise has gotten creepy. Now it looks like even Ron Howard couldn't make a so-so novel, The Da Vinci Code, worth seeing.

The most hotly-awaited movie of the year "The Da Vinci Code" failed to crack an audience of movie critics here at a sneak preview ahead of Wednesday's opening of the Cannes Film Festival.

Several whistles instead of applause were all that greeted the end of Ron Howard's 125-million-dollar film, and worse than that, the 2,000-strong audience even burst out laughing at the movie's key moment.

"I didn't like it very much. I thought it was almost as bad as the book. Tom Hanks was a zombie, thank goodness for Ian McKellen. It was overplayed, there was too much music and it was much too grandiose," said Peter Brunette, critic for the US daily The Boston Globe.

Ouch.

Posted by Darleen at May 16, 2006 10:34 PM

Comments

I won't be seeing the movie but the book is a pretty good read.

Posted by: Carl W. Goss at May 17, 2006 02:36 AM

It was a fast, fairly entertaining read. But it kinda falls apart in the closing chapters.

Chris Fox's The Devil's Halo (different genre) is a much better read by several orders. I'm still working on a review of it.

Posted by: Darleen at May 17, 2006 06:22 AM

- One of those instances where the pre-hype far exceeded the actual reach of the film. The authors of this were no doubt looking for another "Passion of the Christ", but when you get gaffaws at the momment of tears in the narrative, you just know its not going to be a good hair day. Hanks had better get it going fairly fast, this is going on flop number 4 for him in a row. Maybe Howard, who seems always intent in finding something that overwhelms his talents as a director, can rest easy now that hes done it.

Posted by: Big Bang Hunter at May 17, 2006 10:51 PM

Did you read AO Scott's review in the NY Times? I snorted water out of my nose. It is so funny. I highlighted the parts I loved on my blog.

Posted by: Mieke at May 20, 2006 10:47 AM

Why, thanks, Darleen, for your kind words on The Devil's Halo. I'm looking forward to your review.

Posted by: Chris Fox at May 21, 2006 01:08 PM