WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Gone to the Dogs

I can still remember what it was like when I first saw the trailer for BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA. Essentially, my eyes were widened in disbelief and my mouth had dropped all the way to my knees. I thought for a second that perhaps I had inadvertently taken acid. There had to be a reasonable explanation for the countless tiny dogs bobbing their heads and singing in unison atop some Mayan temple. No matter though; surely no one would actually see this mess. Once again, North American audiences have proven me wrong.


Disney’s BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA opened to $29 million, laps ahead of the rest. Audiences were clearly starved for supposed family fun, having been disappointed with recent examples like IGOR and FLY ME TO THE MOON. To be fair, it isn’t just dogs in purses singing; these dogs rediscover their Mexican roots. These dogs are not just for show; they’ve got bite and they’ve bitten deep into your pockets. What a treat!


This weekend was ridiculously overcrowded. Hollywood put out seven wide titles and somehow thought that they would each find their own audiences. After all is said and done, only three managed to make a connection. The second would be NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST. The Michael Cera/Kat Dennings modern day romance averaged a solid $5K and should play its run out reasonably with inevitably sound word of mouth. The third would be the latest film from Larry Charles (BORAT), RELIGULOUS, featuring Bill Maher as he gallivants across the planet in search of truth in the world’s religions. Maher’s loyal followers rung up the film’s tally to a strong $7K per screen average. These are solid numbers but nothing to start your own religion with.


Word of mouth was also responsible for many holdovers retaining strong grasps on their audiences. Three titles (EAGLE EYE, BURN AFTER READING and FIREPROOF) all dropped off by less than 40% while the biggest decline wasn’t even that bad (NIGHTS IN RODANTHE with 45%). Then there’s that whole 3300% increase for APPALOOSA, Ed Harris’s latest directorial effort (having seen it yesterday, I will place the emphasis on “effort”). After two successful weeks in limited release, the supposedly modern western expanded modestly for a fifth place finish. The more modest expansion for THE DUCHESS is seeing more promising results. The film added another 72 screens and saw its tally rise another 60%. The film is slated to go nationwide on October 10.


As for the rest of the debuts, they will be listed in no particular order of embarrassment. First up, AN AMERICAN CAROL. This spoof, which apparently makes statements about the downside of free speech, played on three times as many screens as RELIGULOUS and mustered three times as less cash. Critical hopefuls, FLASH OF GENIUS and BLINDNESS debuted outside the Top 10 despite their strong studio pushes. And HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE proved perhaps once and for all that American audiences do not love Simon Pegg, as the movie couldn’t even manage over a grand per screen.


The weeks littlest winner is certainly RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. Jonathan Demme’s masterpiece debuted this week to nine screens before it goes wide on October 17 and pulled in the highest per screen of any film in release. The $33K per screen is nearly four times as much as this week’s ultimate champ, BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA. Look for the sequel soon enough … BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA GETTING MARRIED … or maybe RACHEL GETS A CHIHUAHUA.

Next Week: Another four releases go wide, the widest of which is Ridley Scott’s latest Russell Crowe vehicle, BODY OF LIES, also starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Dennis Quaid gives lessons in football and racism with THE EXPRESS. CITY OF EMBER aims to rob the dogs of some of their family gold. And QUARANTINE will try to trap horror fans into theatres before everyone inevitably gets “sawed” into pieces.

NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST

Written by Lorene Scafaria
Directed by Peter Sollett
Starring Michael Cera, Kat Dennings, Aaron Yoo, Rafi Gavron, Ari Graynor, Alexis Dziena and Jay Baruchel


Tal: You guys were pretty good but you were one arm short of a Def Leppard cover band.
Nick: You guys were pretty good except you were … two penises short of a Shania Twain … re-imagination band

On one particular night in New York City, an elusive band by the name of Where’s Fluffy? have announced a secret concert. The word spreads through the city’s underground punk scene faster than it can go out of style and before long, it reaches Nick and Norah. Nick and Norah don’t know each other when this news reaches their ears but before the end of the night, they will each find something infinitely more important than Fluffy. NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST is a contemporary romantic comedy that sets itself in an entirely unconventional place and time (can you think of another way to describe a straight romance in the queer punk underground?), but presents itself in a sometimes far too conventional fashion. While it can at times be too cool for school, it is the roughness around its edges that give it an unexpected and genuine warmth. Like any finely balanced playlist, it works its way into your head and your soul.


Nick (Michael Cera) has been down as of late. It seems his fragile heart has been trampled by Tris (Alexis Dziena), a girl so clearly wrong for him but whose physical beauty is apparently capable of diverting people from noticing her lack of a soul. Norah (Kat Dennings) has some trust issues as she naturally assumes that any man interested in her is likely more interested in her connections (her dad is an enormously successful record executive). As a result, both Nick and Norah have withdrawn – not externally as they both still function amongst the other humans but they do so at arm’s length. Like sleeping beauties though, they are both awoken from their waking comas by a shared impromptu kiss. Suddenly, worlds they never knew existed have become possibilities and an ordinary evening becomes an adventure. While the twists the evening takes are at times unrealistic, they do give the night and the film a sense of spontaneity that makes the viewer believe that anything can happen.


Peter Sollett is a delicate director. His first feature, RAISING VICTOR VARGAS, in which a group of Hispanic youths in New York’s lower east side figure out how to stop playing and how to be themselves instead, was a singular revelation. He created a strong sense of hesitation in face of the unknown and a desire to be something more. He has an ease with creating simple, real spaces that foster intimacy and humble his characters and Nick and Norah are no exception to his treatment. Outside of these two though, the remaining ensemble are little more than comic relief and functional plot progression pieces. They can come across as occasionally transparent and one-dimensional but thankfully never enough to distract from the delightful romance budding at the center of all the chaos. Cera proves his versatility once again by showing that there are hundreds of facets to being an awkward teenager, that awkwardness does not define you but is rather just how who you are can come across. Dennings is his perfect counterpoint; she is sharp and strong, a worthy adversary, but frightened underneath it all, an ideal match. The two are so strongly suited that they transform the sometimes too facile script into something much more mature and meaningful.


NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST made me want to fall in love. It also made me laugh and swoon, delight in the magic of music and believe in the transformative properties of one crazy night. It made me long to be in New York City. It made me wish that I was that young again and that believing in possibilities was that easy to do. It may not be perfect but it is almost better that way, more real. There is something so genuine at the heart of this film that makes it almost impossible not to want for Nick and Norah to realize their potential – a potential that is just as infinite as the playlist they are about to create together.

Fall Foliage: October

BLACK SHEEP'S FALL FILM PREVIEW


Boo! It’s October and that means time for scares that make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up. (By the way, you should really do something about that.) And so, the second part in Black Sheep’s three part preview of the fall film schedule should focus on what Hollywood has planned to make you pee your pants. There’s only one problem with this though. I don’t care much for scary movies. In fact, I try to avoid them whenever I can and there is no reason why that should be any different in this article. I’ll try my best to grow a pair for next year. In the meantime, how about a different kind of scare?

What could be scarier than adorably awkward it-boy, Michael Cera (JUNO, SUPERBAD), roaming around New York City all night with a girl he just met? Alright, maybe everything but you’ll be hard pressed to find something more endearing and real than NICK & NORA'S INFINITE PLAYLIST. From the trailer, it looks as though Cera is ready to give us another fresh take on disastrously uncomfortable social interaction and he’s going to give it to us in the underground New York punk scene, well, at least some of the less hardcore corners of the scene. This boy meets girl, boy pretends to be girl’s boyfriend for five minutes, boy and girl inevitably fall hopelessly in love over the span of one night story should keep the indie crowd infinitely giddy.

I know this one is scary. This one is about religion (cue scary ghost noises and eerie organ music). Infamously frightening fella, at least to politicians in his past life as a television pundit, Bill Maher takes on organized religion in RELIGULOUS. No religion is left unscathed in this guerilla-style documentary from BORAT director, Larry Charles. Given that Maher himself is an atheist, you know that his cup of sarcasm will runneth over. The only question left to be answered is not whether God exists but rather whether the film going public will turn to follow Maher as their new God.

Fear doesn’t only happen when someone jumps out from behind the bushes and lunges at you with a bloody meat cleaver. Just ask Robert Deniro and Barry Levinson. They know a whole other kind of fear. Like the fear that happens when you sink millions of dollars into a big tongue and cheek Hollywood picture and it doesn’t find domestic distribution after playing prominently at two high profile film festivals. Reactions to WHAT JUST HAPPENED? (a question I’m sure both veterans were asking themselves after each of the festivals in question) had not been beaming but the film, a tale of two weeks in the life of a failing Hollywood producer, has been through a couple of facelifts and is now ready for its public.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, now that was scary. So we can certainly count on the Oscar-winning director of this 1991 classic to deliver some intense psychological fear with his latest, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. Alright, I’m stretching again but it will definitely be at the very least unwieldy when black sheep (sorry, I had to), Kym (Anne Hathaway) returns from rehab to attend her sister’s nuptials. Demme looks to be keeping his approach simple with an indie-tinged flavour while Hathaway continues to assert herself as major player in young Hollywood. She could miss the mark entirely with this dark turn but I for one am curious to see if she can actually pull it off. Academy Award nominee, Anne Hathaway … now that’s scary.

I think I finally got it. This is definitely frightening. Imagine you started a promising career as a filmmaker. Your first film, let’s call it LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS was an international indie smash that captured the attention of Hollywood, making it possible to snag the likes of Brad Pitt for your follow up, uh, let’s say it’s called, SNATCH. North American audiences eat it up and you’re sitting pretty until you decide to indulge in the ultimate vanity project, a remake of an Italian classic, maybe SWEPT AWAY, starring your pop superstar wife. The problem here is that your infamous wife is the Hollywood equivalent of the a black cat walking underneath a giant ladder being used to clean up the 13 mirrors you just broke. You are now the laughing stock of the film industry and before you know it, your name goes from Guy Ritchie to Madonna’s husband. Well, Mr. Ritchie has found himself a chance at redemption with a return to his Brit-gangsta roots in ROCKNROLLA. Scoring Gerard Butler for the lead should fare better for him, I think.

Also in October … Walt Disney goes to Taco Bell in BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA … Dennis Quaid takes on college ball and prejudice all at once in THE EXPRESS … Simon Pegg continues to woo North American audiences in HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLE … MONSTER HOUSE director returns with a family take on a human race gone underground in CITY OF EMBER … QUARANTINE continues the trend of faux reality low budget video work called film … SEX DRIVE is another teen sex comedy, this time the hero is in a big donut costume … Ridley Scott, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, BODY OF LIES, period … Greg Kinnear takes on the big automobile company after they steal his prototype for windshield wipers in FLASH OF GENIUS (clearly not referring to the decision to make this movie … Mark Wahlberg joins the gaming generation in MAX PAYNE … George W. Bush meets Oliver Stone in W. … Dakota Fanning and Jennifer Hudson are on the run in THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES … The whole gang is back for their first time on the big screen in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 … Angelina Jolie hopes to have some of Clint Eastwood’s Oscar gold rub off on her in CHANGELING … It wouldn’t be Halloween if it weren’t for SAW V … THE BROTHERS BLOOM boasts a great cast (Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz) despite a not so great plot (con-men siblings) … A freaky mystery revolves around Anne Hathaway in PASSENGERS … Edward Norton and Colin Farrell are both brothers and cops in PRIDE AND GLORY … CROSSING OVER is an ensemble piece starring Harrison Ford and Sean Penn … Famed writer, Charlie Kaufman (ADAPTATION) tackles directing in SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK … And on Halloween itself, perpetually amateurish director, Kevin Smith tackles the porn industry with ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO.

Next week, November is a time for thanks.