Weekend Boxoffice: Where's the Beefcake?
I don't remember this scene from Stop-Loss, but don't tell that to Paramount and MTV Films, who'd like you think that the topical Iraq War film is an Abercrombie-style free-for-all. "Stop-Loss is barely registering among potential moviegoers despite generally positive notices," Variety predicts.
Like the marketing campaign (which is selling Stop-Loss like so much canned testosterone but also wants you to take the subject seriously), the movie tries to have it both ways, with patriotism (its characters enlisted to fight terrorism after Afghanistan) and disillusion (when they're ordered back to Iraq after serving their time) literally wrestling over tough questions.
It doesn't star Ryan Phillippe and Channing Tatum, but Sony's 21 looks well positioned to clean up the teen audiences Stop-Loss covets. I haven't seen the film but, like The New Republic's Christopher Orr, I have seen the trailer (he offers a review based on nothing more). I also read Ben Mezrich's book (Bringing Down the House), and the trailer assures me that there's nothing that Vegas, MIT and card counting are the only things the two have in common (what should be an Asian cast is nearly all white, the suggestions of casino debauchery and violence now take center stage, and who the hell know what Kevin Spacey is doing? Wherever there's scenery, the man gets hungry).
That leaves Superhero Movie and Run Fat Boy Run to clean up the remains, although if you're lucky enough to live in New York, do yourself a favor and see Alexander Sokurov's Alexandra instead (it opens in Los Angeles on April 11).
(Peter Debruge)
Perhaps it can be chalked up to the fact that few critics/bloggers etc. have read the book, but this is the first time I've seen anyone mention the Caucasian-ification of BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE in 21, which is even more irritating than the unecessary introduction of a 'sympathetic' good-kid-needs-money-for-school device.
Its a shame, really, because the real story had everything you could want in a film...
Posted by: Rob | March 28, 2008 at 05:13 PM
Couldn't agree more. The fact that the characters are Asian is crucial to their charade, since their success depended as much on their acting talents (passing as bigwigs from overseas or heirs to the Sony fortune) as it did their ability to count cards.
Both the book and movie rely on a certain "the story Vegas doesn't want you to hear" quality, even though the reality is that casinos would be just as happy to take the money of amateurs who think they can swindle the system.
It takes real talent to pull off the kind of coup these kids did, and I wish the movie did more to give them proper credit. Looks to me like everything's been reimagined as a very special episode of The O.C. A shame, considering how rich the raw material was.
Posted by: Peter Debruge | March 28, 2008 at 06:05 PM