Fresh off the Academy Awards and back into the swing of crappy, late winter movies. At least last Sunday we were reminded that Hollywood can put out quality work. Now just isn’t the time of year those movies see the light of day. This week we’ve got speed and single moms.
Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer. Let's take a look at what This Rotten Week has to offer.
Rotten Watch Prediction
19%
Breaking Bad spoiler alert coming in the first sentence of this write up. If you are still working through the series, skip ahead to after the trailer When Jesse Pinkman drove off into the sunset at the end of Breaking Bad, celebrating the beauty of freedom, I’m not sure anyone completely realized it would appear very much a cross-promotional piece of plot mechanics. I doubt it was intentional, but man it’s odd that Aaron Paul’s first starring role would involve him behind the wheel, racing for his life. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was disappointed with Paul, who just turned in one of the all-time great television acting runs, signing on for a fluff action flick. But hey, it’s payday time.
Want to see what I mean? Check out the trailer for Need for Speed:
The movie seems to race right to the intersection of "Dumb" and "Disappointing." It appears built in the Fast and the Furious / Gone in 60 Seconds vein, which is to say a movie in which the main characters are cars and the rest of the plot revolves around making sure the cars get as much screen time as possible. Now, those two movies were/are great watches, super entertaining because they offered just enough ancillary story to fill in the gaps between revving engines and car stunts. This one? I doubt it. Directed by Scott Waugh (Act of Valor - 25%), and based on the popular video game series (usually not a great sign for a movie), Need for Speed looks like a critical car crash waiting to happen. Waugh’s background is in stunts, which should make it at least appealing to the eye. But I seriously doubt there is anything else to this thing with Aaron Paul’s character seeking revenge against some guy in the form of racing cars really fast. Come on Pinkman. We expected so much more.
Rotten Watch Prediction
I have a feeling I know what Tyler Perry was trying to do with this flick. Celebrating the idea of single motherhood in a socially-conscious and respectable way as it becomes more of a cultural norm. I have no problem with that agenda necessarily, as it makes sense to shed light on the changing landscape of "family" and the empowering of females who have been "left" to raise families all on their own. The problem is that this vehicle for social commentary looks idiotic at best and damaging at worst.
Here's the official trailer for Tyler Perry’s Single Moms Club in case you haven't seen it yet...
Setting up a scenario in which a diverse group of single moms are made to work on a school fundraiser together because their kids got in trouble or something and then subsequently join to together to empower each other in single-mom hood by ensuring they find new, eligible men is an odd message. Granted this is just from the trailer, but Tyler Perry looks like he’s aiming for a message of empowerment that might miss the mark by more than a few degrees. And before anyone jumps up and says, "But you haven’t seen the movie, how can you make judgments like this?" I’d say, the trailer is the studio’s representation of what they want others to consider about said movie. The message seems clear: stand up to your old man, and find a new man (oh and your kids are somewhere around too). Did anyone else notice that for a movie about single moms, the kids are barely in the trailer?
Tyler Perry’s critical track record makes this prediction rather easy. His flicks recently fall solidly in the 35% or below range. Films like A Madea Christmas (19%), Temptation (15%) and Good Deeds (31%) are decent comps, though the rest of his resume is pretty par for this course. We’ve learned not to expect too much from Perry, in message or critical acclaim.
This poll is no longer available.
Not a bad week for the Rotten Watch. First off, 300: Rise of an Empire (Predicted: 39% Actual: 43%) was a win. As a companion piece to 300 is seems this latest works well enough, though didn’t break any new ground. It was hard to imagine it finishing anywhere near the original. Kristy Puchko said as much in her review, praising the art direction and coming out disappointed in the film’s restraint as compared to the first. But the prediction was solid.
Meanwhile, Mr. Peabody and Sherman (Predicted: 89% Actual: 77%) was a bad miss considering I had such a head start with the reviews. It dipped a fair amount during the week after getting out of the critical gate pretty strong. Sean gave it three and half stars in his review though to be honest, his write up seems to suggest he liked it a bit more than the rating. Either way it was a solid showing and my prediction fell just out of range. Next time around we get divergent and catch up with the Muppets. It’s going to be a Rotten Week!
