Inherent Vice (2014) - Anderson turns in his career's first dud

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A psychedelic reproduction of star Joaquin Phoenix with a characteristic stoner look in rainbow colors make up most of this poster for Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice

A hairy, uncool private investigator in 1970s Los Angeles gets a new, bewildering case, when his ex-girlfriend appears and sets his attention on the case of a disappeared real estate broker.

 

Inherent Vice is written, co-produced and directed by Californian master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight (1996)), whose 7th feature it is. It is an adaptation of the same-titled 2009 novel by Thomas Pynchon (V. (1963)).

The driving narrative of the missing realtor never hooks us, and Inherent Vice looks and feels like an auteur who is verliebt in a time and a place, (1970s LA, where he also set his Boogie Nights (1997)), but the result is never as fun, dramatic or anything approaching exciting as it was supposed to be. Technically the film is beautiful, with a cool back alley cat attitude, which clashes with Joaquin Phoenix (Her (2013)) booby performance in the lead role, providing moments of measured mirth. This while a parade of stars come and go before the master's camera. Anderson with Inherent Vice is beating on an empty, overlong drum. It is a deadly bore.

 

Related posts:

Paul Thomas Anderson: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Phantom Thread (2017) - Anderson's exquisite drama of an English dressmaker and his Alma 

The Master (2012) - Anderson's stunning post-war reflection 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Punch-Drunk Love (2002) - Sandler breaks out of his routine in Anderson's delightful romcom

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Boogie Nights (1997) - Anderson's irresistible porn 'Casino'

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Hard Eight (1996) - Anderson debuts with downbeat crime drama

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 20 mil. $

Box office: 14.8 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.74 times its cost)

[Inherent Vice premiered 4 October (New York Film Festival) and runs 149 minutes. Shooting took place from May - August 2013 in California, including in Los Angeles, and in Las Vegas, Nevada. The film opened #20 to a 328k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #11 and in 653 theaters (different weeks), grossing 8.1 mil. $ (54.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.1 mil. $ (7.4 %) and Italy with 707k $ (4.8 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Adapted Screenplay, lost to Graham Moore for The Imitation Game, and Costume Design, lost to The Grand Budapest Hotel. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won an Independent Spirit award and 2 National Board of Review awards, among many others. Anderson returned with 8 music videos and a documentary prior to his theatrical return with Phantom Thread (2017). Phoenix returned in Irrational Man (2015). Inherent Vice is fresh at 74 % with a 7.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Inherent Vice? 

Ip Man/叶问 / 葉問 (2008) - Excellent Yen in nationalistic Hong Kong/Chinese actioner

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Star Donnie Yen stands tall and carries a huge stick in the midst of devastation on this grim poster for Wilson Yip's Ip Man

Ip Man is a grandmaster of Wing Chun martial arts in Foshan, China in the end of the 1930s, as the Japanese occupy the country. Man and his family lose their wealth, and he is forced into a battle with the Japanese.

Ip Man is written by Tai-Lee Chan (Mak dau sin sang (2004)) and Edmond Wong (Bounty Hunters/Shang jin lie ren (2016)) and directed by Wilson Yip (Yeh boon 1 dim chung (1995)). It is based loosely on the life of the actual Ip Man (1873-1972).

Historically this is full of falsities, but as a (Chinese) nationalistic action-drama Ip Man is highly effective, nearly registering as propaganda.

Donnie Yen (John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)) is excellent with an internal force and calm about him in the title lead, and the fight scenes are phenomenal, (Sammo Hung (Firestorm/Fung bou (2013)) was among the film's fight coordinators). The dialog is at times trite, and the plot is simplistic, but the film is otherwise well-made, and the story is highly compelling.

 

Related posts:

Wilson Yip: 2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Dragon Tiger Gate/Lóng Hǔ Mén/龍虎門/龙虎门/Lung4 Fu2 Mun4 (2006) or, The Fighting Hairdos! 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 11.7 mil. $

Box office: 22.1 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.88 times its cost)

[Ip Man was released 12 December (China) and runs 108 minutes. Shooting took place from March - August 2008 in China, including in Shanghai. The title was changed to Ip Man prior to release, deleting 'the great master' from the title due to a dispute with Wong Kar-Wai, who was preparing his own Ip Man movie, The Grandmaster (2013). The film spent 4 weeks at #2 in China, where it grossed 13.7 mil. $ (62 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Hong Kong with 3.3 mil. $ (14.9 %) and Singapore with 2 mil. $ (9 %). It was not released in North America and most European markets. The film spun a franchise with 3 sequels, all by Yip and starring Yen, the first being Ip Man 2 (2010). Yip returned with Ip Man 2. Yen first returned in a cameo in Ga yau hei si 2009 (2009) and in a real part in The Founding of a Republic/Jian guo da ye (2009). Ip Man is fresh at 86 % with a 6.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ip Man?

San De huo shang yu Chong Mi Liu/ 三德和尚与舂米六 (The Iron-Fisted Monk) (1977) - Hung's muscular kung fu debut

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Macho fun and violence is promised on this cool poster for Sammo Hung's The Iron-Fisted Monk

A younger student in a Shaolin temple, who receives training from a similarly aged monk, is introduced to the strip against the evil Manchu rulers.

 

The Iron-Fisted Monk is written by Pro Hung Ching, Feng Huang (Xue fu men (1971))  and Yu Ting (Project A 2/'A' gai wak 2 (1987)) and directed and starring debuting Sammo Hung (The Victim/Shen bu you ji (1980)). The English world title is The Iron Fisted Monk. The original Chinese title translates to, 'the three virtuous monks and the broken rice'.

Hung's debut is not his best film but still quite good. A grim rape scene is included in the film. The story is classical and forgettable, but the fight scenes are good.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: Unknown 

Box office: 2.28 mil. HK$, approximately 0.5 mil. $

= Uncertain

[The Iron-Fisted Monk  was released 25 August (Hong Kong) and runs 93 minutes. The film grossed around 500k $ in Hong Kong, its only registered market at IMDb. Hung returned with Enter the Fat Dragon/Fei Lung gwoh gong (1978). As an actor he returned first in Po jie (1977); Sing Chen (Ninja Terminator (1986)) in The Amsterdam Kill (1977). 1,1k IMDb users have given The Iron-Fisted Monk a 6.6/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Iron-Fisted Monk?

It's All About Love (2003) - Young turk Vinterberg returns with Hindenburg-like disaster

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Steamy 'amour' in a black and stylized space are teased on this poster for Thomas Vinterberg's It's All About Love

In the year 2021, John lands in New York, where people perish of poor hearts on a daily basis and are left in the streets. He goes there to finish his divorce from his celebrated, rich figure skating wife. The two still seem to love each other.

It's All About Love is written and directed by Danish master filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg (Sneblind (1990)), whose 4th film it is. Mogens Rukov (The Inheritance/Arven (2003)) contributed to the script.

More elements of the plot in It's All About Love: The figure skater has been cloned. Both her and her husband come from Poland. In Kenya people float. And Sean Penn (Hurlyburly (1998)) flies around (in airplanes) and philosophizes about life. There is a theme of snails and laboriously photographed scenes with many actors, who speak but say nothing. The close relationship at the heart of the film is suddenly disturbed by some Bergmanesque shouting arguments - and violence.

Everything rings false and seems static, fatally boring and utterly, horribly self-indulgent and pretentious, as if this was the grand, uncontrolled epic creation of a 17 year-old art cinema student. Joaquin Phoenix (Ladder 49 (2004)) and Claire Danes (The Flock (2007)) turn in jolting efforts, but they cannot change that this if one of the most disastrous follow-ups to a global break-out success (Vinterberg's Dogme masterpiece sensation The Celebration/Festen (1998)) by a newly minted, celebrated filmmaker. Outrageously overrated locally (in Denmark's infamously self-congratulatory and nepotistic film and media industry), It's All About Love is a pure blood catastrophe.

 

Related posts:

 
Thomas Vinterberg: 2020 in films - according to Film Excess 

Another Round/Druk (2020) - A perfect gem, a wonderful film, Vinterberg's true celebration 

Far from the Madding Crowd (2015) - Vinterberg's plush but grating English adaptation

The Hunt/Jagten (2012) - Vinterberg's strongest film since 1998 is a reversed Celebration  

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Submarino (2010) - Vinterberg's elegant, downbeat Copenhagen-set social realism drama
Dear Wendy (2004) - Vinterberg and Von Trier's unpopular, gun-themed mega-flop  

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

The Celebration/Festen (1998) - Vinterberg's charged, stirring Dogme drama masterpiece

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 10 mil. $

Box office: 1 mil. $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.1 times its cost)

[It's All About Love was released 10 January (Denmark) and runs 106 minutes. Vinterberg reportedly spent 2½ years writing the script. A stunning 23 companies and support bodies collaborated in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place in Italy, Paris, France, Kenya, Sweden, Vancouver, British Columbia, New York, Copenhagen, Denmark, England and in Oslo, Norway. The film opened #110 to a 2k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, its peak there where it grossed just 6k $ (0.006 % of the total gross). The film's biggest markets were its home market Denmark, where it sold 50k tickets, grossing 530k $ (53 %), Greece with 149k $ (14.9 %) and France with 123k $ (12.3 %). The film won 3 Robert awards, Denmark's Oscar. Vinterberg returned with Dear Wendy (2005). Phoenix returned with a voice performance in Brother Bear (2003) and a physical performance in The Village (2004); Danes in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). It's All About Love is rotten at 19 % with a 3.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of It's All About Love?

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) - Jenkins follows up with delectable period love story

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An intimate couple in love makes up this neat poster for Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk

Tish and Fonny are just about to start a family, when he gets arrested for a rape that another man is really guilty of at a time in America (the 1970s) in having black skin was suspicious in itself.

 

If Beale Street Could Talk is written, co-produced and directed by great Floridian filmmaker Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy (2008)), adapting the same-titled 1974 novel by James Baldwin (Another Country (1962)).

Jenkins follows up his triumphant breakthrough Moonlight (2016) with a more down-toned, good film, which especially lives on its vivid photography (by James Laxton (Mufasa: The Lion King (2024))) and an exceptional score (by Nicholas Britell (Cruella (2021))), which adds sensual and poetic force to the narrative.

KiKi Layne (Coming 2 America (2021)) is excellent, while Stephan James (Babes (2024)) is slightly mannered and insecure in his acting, but the two look fabulous on each other and are enormously sexy. Regina King (Pariah (2015, TV movie)) is terrific as Tish's movingly caring, warm mother.

Although If Beale Street Could Talk ends up feeling smaller than one had hoped, it pulses with love and affection for its material.

 

Related posts:

 

Barry Jenkins: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Top 10: Best gay-themed titles

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The day after ... the Oscars 2017 

Moonlight (2016) - Jenkins and McCraney's powerful and personal coming-of-age romance drama 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 12 mil. $

Box office: 20.5 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.70 times its cost)

[If Beale Street Could Talk premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 117 minutes. Shooting took place around October 2017 in New York and the Dominican Republic. The film opened #23 to a 224k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 1,018 theaters, grossing 14.9 mil. $ (72.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2 mil. $ (9.8 %) and France with 815k $ (4 %). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning Best Supporting Actress (King). It lost Best Adapted Screenplay to Charlie Wachtel, Spike Lee, Kevin Willmott and David Rabinowitz for BlacKkKlansman and Score to Ludwig Göransson for Black Panther. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs, won 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, 3 Independent Spirit awards, 3 National Board of Review awards and an AFI award, among dozens of other honors. Jenkins returned with The Gaze (2021, video), The Underground Railroad (2021, miniseries) and theatrically with Mufasa: The Lion King (2024). Layne returned in Native Son (2019); James in 21 Bridges (2019). If Beale Street Could Talk is certified fresh at 95 % with an 8.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of If Beale Street Could Talk? 

In This Our Life (1942) or, Sisterhood Be Damned!

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Serene and lovely, a classical poster for John Huston and Raoul Walsh's In This Our Life

With outspoken and devil-may-care attitude Virginian Stanley's ruins her sister's coming marriage by eloping with her man to be. But that life doesn't last.

In This Our Life is written by Howard Koch (The 13th Letter (1951)), adapting the same-titled 1941 novel by Ellen Glasgow (Virginia (1913)), and directed by Missourian master filmmaker John Huston (The Maltese Falcon (1941)), whose 2nd film it was, with uncredited direction by great New-Yorker filmmaker Raoul Walsh (The Regeneration (1915)).

Gloriously directed melodrama with pristine images (remastered to crisp perfection, cinematography by Ernest Haller (The 3rd Voice (1960))), and Bette Davis (All About Eve (1950)) in a performance of unbridled recklessness, which still today stands as utterly relevant as a portrayal of one of that type of persons who only take themselves into consideration and always disregard who might get in their way.

Olivia de Havilland (Gone with the Wind (1939)) is fine as the 'good sister', and so are the male actors, and the film is also esteemed by a race angle to its story, since Stanley is also willing to destroy her black help's life in order to be free.

 

Related posts:

John Huston: Chinatown (1974) - Roman Polanski's masterpiece (actor)
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) or, The Final Ape! (actor)
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (co-director)

The African Queen (1951) - Classic romance bravura de Huston/Bogart/Hepburn 

Top 10: Best heist movies 
The Asphalt Jungle (1950) - The twentyfour carat noir caper thriller
Top 10: The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

High Sierra (1941) - Bogart steals the silver screen (writer)

Raoul Walsh: Top 10: Best heist movies 

High Sierra (1941) - Bogart steals the silver screen

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 713k $

Box office: 2.7 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 3.78 times its cost)

[In This Our Life premiered 7 May (New York) and runs 97 minutes. Warner Bros. paid 40k $ for the film rights to Glasgow's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, and Koch toned down the risqué topical material (incest and racism) to suit the censorship. Shooting took place from October - December 1941 in California. Davis fought costume, hair, make-up and other involved departments during production and disliked the script, later declaring herself "disgusted" by the outcome, which she deemed  "phony film". De Havilland reportedly carried on an affair with Huston during shooting. It is the 3rd of 6 that the female co-stars appeared in together. America's entrance in WWII, due to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7 1941, pulled Huston away from filming at the behest of the US Department of War, and Walsh was put in charge of direction at the late stage, perhaps finishing the film for his 20 years younger colleague. The Office of Censorship 'disapproved' the film for foreign distribution due to its truthful depiction of racial discrimination (the black character's legal testimony is deemed ineffectual due to his race), but the film was released abroad nevertheless: It grossed 1.6 mil. $ (59.3 % of the total gross) in North America. It won 3 National Board of Review awards. Huston returned with Winning Your Wings (1942, short) and theatrically with Across the Pacific (1942); Walsh with Desperate Journey (1942). Davis returned in Now, Voyager (1942); and De Havilland in Thank You Lucky Stars (1943). 5.4k+ IMDb users have given In This Our Life a 7.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of In This Our Life?

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) - The teen slasher favorite

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Pouty faced teen stars in eerie lighting makes up this effective poster for Jim Gillespie's I Know What You Did Last Summer

Two beautiful, promising young high school grad couples are heading to college when one late, fateful night, they make a terrible mistake, which they pay dearly for the following year ...

 

I Know What You Did Last Summer is written by Kevin Williamson (Scream (1996)), loosely based on the same-titled 1973 novel by Lois Duncan (Killing Mr. Griffin (1978)), and directed by debuting Jim Gillespie (Venom (2005)).

Subtlety is not a virtue that this teen slasher pursues, but it works very well as top-tuned youth horror with four excellent stars, - especially Sarah Michelle Gellar's (Cruel Intentions (1999)) screams are epic, - and a simple premise of transgression and punishment, which is classical for the horror genre and very well made.

I Know What You Did Last Summer is a deeply entertaining minor 1990s classic that merits revisits. 

 

Related post:

 

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) - Cannon slashes possible franchise with repititious turkey 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 17 mil. $

Box office: 125.5 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 7.38 times its cost)

[I Know What You Did Last Summer premiered 9 October (Austin Film Festival) and runs 101 minutes. Williamson had written the script prior to Scream, and with that film's immense success, Columbia Pictures hurried to put I Know What You Did Last Summer into production. Ryan Phillippe (The Way of the Gun (2000)) was paid 250k $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from March - June 1997 in North Carolina and California. The film opened #1 to a 15.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends at #1 and then one more in the top 5 (#3), grossing 72.5 mil. $ (57.8 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave it a 1/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. Gillespie returned with D-Tox (2002). Jennifer Love-Hewitt (House Arrest (1996)) first returned in Boy Meets World (1998, TV-series) before her theatrical return in Can't Hardly Wait (1998); Gellar in Scream 2 (1997); Phillippe in Homegrown (1998) and Freddie Prinze Jr. (Scooby-Doo (2002)) in Sparkler (1997). Hewitt and Prinze Jr. returned in the sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), and a second sequel is slated for the summer of 2025. I Know What You Did Last Summer is rotten at 47 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Know What You Did Last Summer?

Into the Sun (2005) - Seagal's career implodes in Tokyo-set turkey

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Clad in an almost foot-long, black leather coat, star Steven Seagal walks away from a fiery inferno on this poster for mink's Into the Sun

Travis Hunter is a former CIA agent with intimate knowledge of Japan, who gets busy when Tokyo's governor is murdered in muddled waters between the Japanese yakuza and Chinese triad gangsters.

Into the Sun is written by Joe Halpin (Dark Blue (2010, TV-series)), Trevor Miller (Riot on Redchurch Street (2012)) and co-writer/co-producer/star Steven Seagal (Absolution (2015)) and directed by mink (Full Clip (2004)).

Among the worst of Seagal's features, Into the Sun is involuntarily funny in its best moments but more often insufferably dumb and boring. Despite a not inconsiderable budget, the film is poorly produced and looks like an ugly TV movie. 

Most will give up fast, when it comes to making any sense of the demonstratively insipid material, - one line has Seagal's Hunter threatening to kill a bully again, if he dies! - and in the obligatory romantic side story, Seagal proposes to his Japanese girlfriend in a cherry tree garden, who weepingly accepts. And this marks the film's romantic highlight, a romance, by the way, in which he speaks English, while she speaks Japanese. Later swords and blood splattering is introduced.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 16 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 175k $ (2/4 markets)

= Box office disaster (projected return of 0.01 times its cost)

[Into the Sun was released 20 May (South Korea) and runs 96 minutes. Shooting took place from March - May 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand and Tokyo, Japan. The film's North American release was canceled and the film was instead released straight-to-DVD in all markets except for 4: South Korea, Italy, Japan and Egypt. It made 164k $ in Japan and 10k $ in Egypt. A projected total gross of 290k $ would rank the film a box office disaster. mink returned only with a video and a TV-series credit, never again directing a feature. Seagal returned in 9 video titles prior to his theatrical return in the role of 'Cock Puncher' in The Onion Movie (2008). 8.2k+ IMDb users have given Into the Sun a 4.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Into the Sun?

I Am Ali (2014, documentary) - Boxing icon portrayed in affecting, under-appreciated doc.

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A bright and simple poster focused on its subject for Clare Lewins' I Am Ali

Documents the childhood experience of Cassius Clay, which opened him to the world of boxing, covering his charismatic, wild, braggadocio media style, the boldness of his beliefs of protest held against the Vietnam War, which locked him out of the boxing world, his loving, expanding family life, as well as his impact and enthralling light of life.

I Am Ali is written, co-produced and directed by debuting great English filmmaker Clare Lewins (Perspectives (2013, TV-series)).

It is a deeply moving and fascinating documentary with fantastic sound recordings of Cassius Clay/Muhammed Ali's own making from back in the 1970s as well as interviews with a wealth of richly vivid close sources from high and low in society. Ali's warm humanism and grand persona, - one of the greatest of US history and the 20th century, - makes this a film not to miss. Outstanding.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: In excess of 7k $

= Uncertain (projected return of 0.1 times its cost)

[I Am Ali was released 10 October (Germany, USA) and runs 111 minutes. Shooting took place in England, including in London, England, New York, Kentucky, Washington, Los Angeles, California, Chicago, Illinois and in Las Vegas, Nevada. The film only grossed 7k $ in 11 theaters in North America over the course of 2 weeks. Its grosses in its other theatrical release markets Germany, the UK and Ireland are unreported online. If a larger amount in grosses is presumed there with a final gross of 50k $, the film would rank as a box office disaster if made at a small cost of 0.5 mil. $. The-numbers.com estimates that the film additionally made at least 279k $ on the North-American home video market. Lewins has since only returned with a TV movie and a video. I Am Ali is fresh at 65 % with a 6.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Am Ali?

The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) - Dench crowns Parker's fine Wilde adaptation

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A cheeky blend of game stars and an eye-catching question mark graphic makes up this poster for Oliver Parker's The Importance of Being Earnest

In 1890's finer English circles in London, two chums deceit maidens in different ways; both assume the sympathetic name 'Earnest', which gives rise to problems.

 

The Importance of Being Earnest is written and directed by Oliver Parker (Othello (1995)), adapting the same-titled 1895 play by Oscar Wilde (Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)).

Wonderful Wildeian satire comes out light and well cast here, if a bit dialog heavy in this text loyal adaptation. Rupert Everett (Napoleon (2023)) and Colin Firth (Supernova (2020)) bask in the luxurious material, and everyone do well here; not least Anna Massey (Oliver Twist (2007, miniseries)) as a sympathetic nitwit, and in particular Judi Dench (Cats (2019)) as honor-focused mother-in-law to be, the crown jewel of the film.

Good-looking costumes and plenty of jolly fun. Reese Witherspoon (Home Again (2017)) acquits herself well in fitting into the language and landscapes of Britain.

Related posts:

 

Oliver Parker: Johnny English Reborn/Johnny English Returns (2011) - Atkinson will make you laugh till your belly aches

Othello (1995) - Parker's fascinating Shakespeare adaptation debut 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 15 mil. $

Box office: 18 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.2 times its cost)

[The Importance of Being Earnest was released 21 June (USA) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place from April - June 2001 in England, including in London. The film opened #18 to a 500k $ first weekend in 38 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #12 and grossed 8.3 mil. $ (44.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 4.7 mil. $ (26.1 %) and Australia with 1.4 mil. $ (7.8 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Parker returned with The Private Life of Samuel Pepys (2003, TV movie) and theatrically with Fade to Black (2006). Everett returned in Unconditional Love (2002); Firth in Hope Springs (2003); and Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama (2002). The Importance of Being Earnest is rotten at 57 % with a 6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Importance of Being Earnest?