Garfield/Garfield: The Movie (2004) - Davies' comical cat in dull movie debut

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An amusing poster for the movie adaptation of the famous comics feline, Peter Hewitt's Garfield

Lazy house cat Garfield's owner John acquires a dog to make an impression on a girl, but when said dog gets stolen by an amoral TV host, Garfield gets overlooked, and so he decides to get the woof-meister back!

Garfield is written by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow (Toy Story (1995), both), based on the long-running same-titled 1978-? comics by Jim Davies (U.S. Acres (1986-89)), and directed by Peter Hewitt (Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)).

Both script and direction are uninspired, and Breckin Meyer (King of the Hill (2000-10)) and a stiff-as-an-ironing-board Jennifer Love Hewitt (Heartbreakers (2001)) are inauthentic and bereft of charm as the film's main human stars. Bill Murray (Coming Attractions (1978)) voicing the title character is the film's biggest draw.

Garfield is a far-fetched and by-the-numbers exploitative attempt at cashing in on Davies' beloved creation. It will entertain children without giving them anything real in return for their time and attention. It is a fairly vapid flick.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 203.1 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.06 times its cost)

[Garfield premiered 6 June (Los Angeles) and runs 85 minutes. Murray has explained his performance in the film as given due to his mistakenly thought that (master filmmaker) Joel Coen had co-written the script, not Cohen, - but the anecdote is described by Sokolow as "complete horse shit." Shooting took place from March - June 2003 in the UK and in California, including Los Angeles. The film opened #4, behind holdover hit Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, fellow new release The Chronicles of Riddick and holdover hit Shrek 2, to a 21.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 75.3 mil. $ (37.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were 17.4 mil. $ (8.6 %) and Spain with 10.1 mil. $ (5 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to two notches over this one. Despite Murray's later story about his involvement (given in 2010 in GQ magazine), he returned with Meyer and Love Hewitt for flop sequel Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006). Hewitt returned with Zoom (2006). Murray returned first in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). Garfield is rotten at 14 % with a 3.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Garfield?

Evan Almighty (2007) - Shadyac's monumentally miscalculated sequel/professional gravestone (hope not)

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+ Most Expensive Flop of the Decade: 105.7 mil. $ range

+ Most Expensive Flop of the Year (lost approximately 105.7 mil. $) + Worst Poster of the Year + Biggest Career Killer of the Year: Tom Shadyac 

 

This poster for Tom Shadyac's Evan Almighty is a fine example of a grotesquely manipulated copy-paste poster graphics job that's gone awfully wrong

 

Following the funny huge hit Bruce Almighty (2003), spin-off Evan Almighty focuses on news anchor-turned-congressman Evan (Steve Carell (The Big Short (2015))). One of his colleagues gets contacted by God, who - for reasons that seem beyond our comprehension, - make Evan into a modern day Noah.

- As his hysterical wife leaves him, and the political job becomes harder and harder to keep, Carell trots around in more and more wacky costumes and hair jobs in Evan Almighty, which must surely rank among the craziest and most outlandish comedies in recent history. It is a very bizarre film built around a poor idea, which is also very badly constructed from there. It is also a huge effects feature, which is amusing in small glimpses, - mostly those in which Carell seems to laugh inwards in earnest at the whole absurd situation he has put himself in here.

Morgan Freeman (Oblivion (2013)) is, however, good as God, and, believe it or not, so is the message of the film.

Evan Almighty is written by Steve Oedekerk (Bruce Almighty), with Joel Cohen (Toy Story (1995)) and Alec Sokolow (Garfield (2004)) contributing story elements, and directed by Virginian master filmmaker Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)), whose directing career fell into a black hole, probably as a result of the costly failure of Evan Almighty. (Shadyac has only directed a documentary since.)

 

Related posts:

 

Tom Shadyac: The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Bruce Almighty (2003) - Carrey makes laughter in well-made what-if-you-were-God-comedy

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) - 6th gear Jim Carrey smacker

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 175 mil. $

Box office: 173.4 mil. $

= Huge flop

[Evan Almighty was released June 22 and runs 96 minutes. Its script is a reworking of the spec script The Passion of the Ark, which Sony Pictures bought in a bidding war for a huge 2.5 mil. $ in 2004, beginning the hugely expensive and difficult production of Evan Almighty. Jim Carrey, the star of Bruce Almighty, declined to star in the sequel, which thus became a spin-off. Shooting took place in Virginia, Washington and California, including Universal Studios, from March - August 2006. The budget ballooned from 140 mil. to 175 mil. $ due to the effects-heavy, animal-heavy shoot. Shadyac had an environmental focus during production, getting thousands of trees planted to make up for its CO2 emissions, and had a fall-out with the producers towards the release of the film. The film opened #1 with a 31.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weeks in the top 5 (#3, #5) and grossed 100.4 mil. $ (57.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 12.1 mil. $ (7 %) and Australia with 6.7 mil. $ (3.9 %). The film additionally made in excess of 27.6 mil. $ on home video sales in North America alone, which, if added to its gross, changes its statues to merely a big flop. Evan Almighty is rotten at 23 % with a 4.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Evan Almighty?