Paramount and DreamWorks had expected more from "The Heartbreak Kid," which reteamed Stiller with Peter and Bobby Farrelly. The trio collaborated on 1998's smash "There's Something About Mary."
The studios had gotten positive reaction from audiences at advance screenings, but reviews for "The Heartbreak Kid" came in much harsher than expected, said DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan.
"We were surprised," Sullivan said. "The reviews hurt us. We love the movie. We've seen it play great. But I think reviews do matter on an R-rated movie."
An update of the 1972 comedy written by Neil Simon and directed by Elaine May, "The Heartbreak Kid" stars Stiller as a man who marries an incompatible bride, then meets the perfect woman on his honeymoon.
Really. Surprised? It was based on a Neil Simon 1972 Screenplay. Where can you go from there? No teenager wants to see that. It was dead the moment the deal was signed. This is just another example of why Dreamworks and Paramount should have never become bedfellows. Neil Simon cannot be remade. The moral values he infused into his writing are of his time, perhaps even his parents time. They mean nothing to a contemporary viewer. If fact, I'm pretty sure, It bores them silly.
This is amazing because they seemed to have realized test screenings mean nothing. In this world the world that Neil Simon does not live in, the world of reality... and "reality", it is almost impossible to get an honest answer from anyone. God forbid they had a camera in on the screening and they asked questions from the test group. NO ONE says the truth in front of a camera. Even if they suspect a camera is on them and they don't see it... the truth stays hidden. Market research for films has to stop. Remaking Neil Simon garbage has to stop.
3 comments:
Who would beleive test screenings? Here are a bunch of people who go to a free movie on a Wednsday and you're taking their word on what works for an audience who goes out on the weekend and pays full price? Thats like asking the blue hairs at Norms- the one's there at 4:30 pm for the Early Bird Special- for menu feedback on the new star-owned Hollywood restaurant. DUH!
Reviving Neil Simon is always a bad idea. I remember cringing as a preteen at the line in "Barefoot in the Park" about the pair upstairs that were of the same sex. "But nobody knows which one!" Har, har. Oh, it was tired in 1965.
I knew this movie was gonna be bad. This whole SOMETHING ABOUT MARY type comedy is so OVER! BEEN THERE DONE THAT.
It's as if each comedy film now has to be even grosser and more crude than the last one. It's getting tired.
You can actually be quite funny the old-fashioned way ya know.
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