Couples Retreat, this fall's most thinly veiled paid vacation for Vince Vaughan and his friends, was already obviously terrible. We all know that. No one is wondering whether or not Couples Retreat, a nominal "comedy" in which three unhappy couples go to Hawaii for almost no reason other than that the stars of the movie wanted to go to Hawaii, is unfunny and miserable, much like the characters' marriages. But somehow this movie has managed to get even worse now that the token black couple has been Photoshopped out of the movie poster in the UK's marketing push. From the Mail:
The makers of a hit Hollywood film are at the centre of a race controversy after removing two black actors from a poster being used to promote it in Britain.
A spokesman for makers Universal Pictures confirmed the poster had been changed to 'simplify' it for the UK and international market outside America. The studio said it regretted causing offence and has abandoned plans to use the revised poster in other countries.
Yikes! Both posters enlarged, along with some additional COMMENTARY, after the jump.
With excitement over James Cameron's upcoming World of Warcraft Expansion Pack movie, Avatar, it was only a matter of time before a religious group took issue with its potential to confuse and disgrace their most cherished beliefs (was it only a matter of time?). From TMZ:
James Cameron's new film "Avatar" may have one of the biggest budgets of all time ... but it also has one big problem -- a group of Hindus are up in arms because they claim the title disgraces their religion.
The Universal Society of Hinduism and its president Rajan Zed are demanding Cameron put a disclaimer before and after the new 3-D flick saying it has diddly squat to do with the Hindu religion and its concepts ... and the title is just a coincidence.
The concept of "avatar" -- commonly known as incarnation -- is a central theme in Hinduism and prominent Hindus are worried the movie will completely botch it if Cameron doesn't bother to explain himself.
The New York Times had an extensive article in the Sunday Magazine yesterday about your boyfriend, Jeff Dunham. It is a pretty interesting read for both the Jeff Dunham fan and the Jeff Dunham opposite-of-fan. It describes his career trajectory and the ways in which his "comedy" (still not sure about that classification) has surprised TV executives and blah blah blah. You should read it! But if you don't feel like reading it, I have pulled a lot of choice quotes from the article. In a word: yuck!
[Jeff Dunham] quickly realized that a dummy could crack jokes and level insults that he was too shy to touch.
OK, just so we're all on the same page on this: Jeff Dunham is touching those "jokes" and "insults." Because he is writing them. And he is saying them. His hand my be holding a puppet, but that puppet is not alive and that puppet cannot talk. I understand what the reporter is saying here, we all do, but I feel like this is a classic Jeff Dunham feint, and maybe we should not be so quick to justify and absolve and legitimize it. Even he doesn't seem to be able to do that:
He's become a genuine connoisseur of the big, goofy laugh and confessed to me that there are still times Peanut's Chinese routine makes him break character and lose it a little onstage.
He confessed that sometimes the blatant racism in his routine makes him break character and lose it a little onstage? How charming! "Even he can't help but laugh at how stupid Chinese people are." Even Jeff Dunham. He's like a young Jimmy Fallon but, you know, with racism.
Going back to that first quote, I'm also not really sure that I would classify the hesitation to spew unapologetic hate speech on stage as "shyness." It's more like self-preservational common sense, and also a modicum of human decency. He might be an unfunny nightmare with hate in his heart, but he is not a stupid nightmare with hate in his heart! He knows that you can't just say the stuff that he just says. Which of course goes back to the coward thing, but we've already discussed that.
When he agreed to do a DirecTV commercial featuring a scene from Tommy Boy with the late Chris Farley, actor David Spade never dreamed anybody would be offended.
"Slight shock," Spade told PEOPLE on Wednesday night of the fallout from the ad, which some commentators saw as tasteless. "These commercials are cool. They're well done. They're clever. And that they would include Tommy Boy in that company, I thought was very flattering."
Spade says featuring Tommy Boy in a commercial series that also has scenes from Back to the Future and Aliens "is so cool" since "we made this thing and people still talk about it."
"Oh, my God if [Farley] was here, I guarantee he'd be stoked that this little movie is included," says Spade. (Farley died in 1997 of heart failure linked to an overdose.) "The movie is important to me, and I would hate to offend [anyone] because that's one of my favorite things I've ever done. So I would apologize to someone who took it that way."
OK, well, it would be unfair to complain about David Spade hiding behind his publicist when he should be making his own statement and then to simply mock the statement that he does give. So, we should all be gracious and accept David Spade's apology, and thank him for taking some time out of his busy hot tub schedule to respond to this IMPORTANT controversy. (That is the main thing about this, is how important it is.) But, just for the record, these ads are NOT cool! Come on, David Spade. And it is not flattering to have your movie be...part of...Direct TV's ads? Huh?
Some people, including this people, were a little grossed out by David Spade's appearance with a CGI Chris Farley in an ad for Direct TV. I think the main reasons people were bothered by it was the fact that advertising is obnoxious, Chris Farley is dead, and shame on you, David Spade. But I'm sure he had his reasons (got to put food on your mansion). And one website decided to find out what those reasons were. From Asylum:
We reached out to David Spade through his publicist, who provided Asylum with a statement from Spade.
"When DIRECT TV came to me and the Farley family with this idea about 'Tommy Boy,' we talked and thought it would be a cool way to remind people just how funny Chris was. It is a clever homage to my friend and a movie that we loved doing, " he says.
UPDATE: A spokesperson for Direct TV told us, "We should look to Chris' family and friends for the ultimate opinion on this subject. They were involved from the beginning of this project and felt that the spot was a great to tribute to Chris."
A neighbor of the Heenes gets in an actual fight with the camera crews hanging around his neighborhood? An actual fight?! BUBBLE BOY STRIKES AGAIN!
Oh jeez.
"From behind? From behind?"
--that guy's tombstone
I do love when he tells the person on the other end of the phone (who I am assuming is a police dispatcher) that he is going to "fight 20 people if you don't get down here." Uh, good luck? If I was the person on the other end of the phone I might not come down here just in order to see what happens. I mean, come on, Bonesaw. That is a ton of people to fight, even for a Human Whirlwind.
Carrie Prejean turned the video camera off, put on some clothes, and stepped out of her house. It was a beautiful day outside. The air smelled like apples, and the late morning light hit the world in just such a...
After watching Death Sentence, a terrible movie starring Kevin Bacon as a father in search of vigilante justice directed by Saw's James Wan, Gabe embarked on The Hunt For The Worst Movie of All Time. This is his sad journey.
If you are a sassy and sarcastic young man in an American sitcom who represents the sitcom writer's desire that a nerdy Jewish teenager can somehow be the desirable romantic hero in this world, then eventually you will get a...
I shouldn't even be here right now. I SHOULD BE GETTING INTO MY COSTUME! If I don't hurry, my facepaint won't be dry before I get to the MOONVIE theater, and everyone will be like "hahah, you look like you're...
Blogging about TV and movies isn't all fun and videogames. Every week, Lindsay or Gabe will be presented with a physical or mental challenge that tests their bravery,patience, and taste.
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Uh. OK. Well, first let's address what this movie did well, like the disappointed parents we are (or at least that I am), recognizing that the negative feedback won't be useful or constructive if it isn't preceded by something positive....
