Bust Watch, November 20th

The Night Before

This looks bad, right?  It has the feel of a less funny Neighbors (a shitty movie), or of the Vince Vaughn/Dave Franco movie Unfinished Business where the commercial doesn’t show any really funny bits or reasons you’d enjoy the story.  The former was a hit, the latter a bust.

The best thing going for this movie is the cast, no question.  Seth Rogen is gold, everybody likes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anthony Mackie is charismatic and becoming very recognizable, and Jillian Bell is funny as hell even if she is less known.  The cast alone makes this a no question hit, right?

I’m not sure.  The Apatow Syndrome characters are usually unappealing in non-Apatow films, and that seems to be the character Rogan is playing in this film.  The commercials rely on Rogen throwing up in church, a Home Alone joke, and Rogan tripping balls.  Do people still want to see this type of movie, where the commercial doesn’t have any huge laughs, especially during the holiday season?

The cast alone should make it a safe bet to do fairly well, but I don’t think it looks appealing enough or fresh enough to be a financial hit.

3/5 bust rating.

 

Secret in Their Eyes

Chiwetal Ejiofor in peak beard form, Julia Roberts not pulling off bangs for most of the trailer but still being charismatic, and Nicole Kidman not really seeming like she’s a big part of the film but still being there.  Big names, shitty looking revenge movie.

It just looks boring from the trailers.  We’ve seen this movie before, and we’ve seen it in movies that have looked much more interesting.  What is this movie going to have that is new or exciting?  It doesn’t look tense or exciting, simply melodramatic and familiar.  I have zero reason to want to see this film, and am not sure why anyone else would outside of the names, two of which aren’t huge draws by themselves and one (Roberts) who may not be a big draw anymore (when was the last movie she really drew people into theaters?  Charlie Wilson’s War?  Even earlier?).

4/5 bust rating

 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2

Let’s not overthink this.  It’s a monster movie franchise that knew people would pay to see two movies based off of one book that, from what I’ve heard, was pretty shitty.  They did the same thing for the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises, and I don’t recall either of those coming remotely close to busting.

There is a huge fan base, lots of star power, and the movies have been pretty well received by critics.  I’ve only seen the first, but was surprised at it being well directed and visually creative, even if the story sputters out and drags down the end of the film.  Not a chance in hell this busts, unless they start showing commercials that feature Bill Cosby in a supporting role.

1/5 bust rating.