Marci X (2003) - Benjamin slips with awfully scripted class comedy

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+ Career-Killer of the Year: Richard Benjamin 

 

The star duo attempt to lock your interest down on this poster for Richard Benjamin's Marci X

 

A white, Jewish socialite's father incurs serious health problems, as a hiphop act causes a crisis for his record company, so said daughter Marci rolls in to handle the situation.

 

Marci X si written by Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey (1995)) and directed by Richard Benjamin (My Favorite Year (1982)).

Opposites meet in this hard-to-categorize film, which angered many somewhat overly serious critics back in the day, probably because it dares to both lampoon overclass whites and black working class culture (namely hiphop). It does so in a childish manner, which feels as if the script must have been written in 1990.

Lisa Kudrow (The Other Woman (2009)) is fun nonetheless, and the same goes for Jane Krakowski (Open Season (2006)) and Christine Baranski (Happy Family (2003-04)) in particular here as a right-wing virago judge. Damon Wayans (Goosed (1999)) is less fun, but he is embarrassing from time to time in Marci X.

The film in general is a bit embarrassing; the plot is completely grotesque, its structure totally checked out. What on earth were they thinking, one wonders often during Marci X, and where does this idea come from? It fully ignores good taste and common practice, doing so with an at time Mel Brooksian comedic enthusiasm. Marci X is a pretty funny really bad movie.

 

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Richard Benjamin: 2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair

 

Watch a short clip from the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $

Box office: 1.6 mil. $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.08 times its cost)

[Marci X was released 22 August (USA) and runs 84 minutes. Shooting took place in New York. The film opened #17 to a 872k $ first weekend in 1,200 theaters in North America, where it only decreased from there, grossing 98.4 % of the film's listed gross at Box Office Mojo, with the remainder coming from 26k $ made in South Africa. Benjamin has directed two TV movies since, but never again a theatrical feature. Kudrow returned in Wonderland (2003); Wayans in Luther Vandross: Dance with My Father (2003, music video), My Wife and Kids (2001-05) and theatrically in Behind the Smile (2006). Marci X is rotten at 8 % with a 3.48/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Marci X? 

Mamma Mia! (2008) - Lloyd's preposterous, up-beat pop snare

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+ Best $ Return of the Year: 11.72

Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried, obviously styled to be mother and daughter, in a heavily manipulated Greek landscape on a poster for Phyllida Lloyd's Mamma Mia!

A beautiful young woman who has never known her father is getting married and invites the three men, who all may be her father, to come to her wedding in her mother's decrepit hotel on a Greek island.

Mamma Mia! is written by Catherine Johnson (Love Hurts (1993-94)), based on her own 1999 same-titled hit stage musical, built around the hits of Swedish pop quartet ABBA, and directed by Phyllida Lloyd (Gloriana (2000, TV movie)), whose theatrical debut it is.
The inevitable film version of the colossally popular London and Broadway smash 'jukebox musical' hit is a cheerful, energetic film that especially rouses joy in its lively musical numbers. - And as a consequence of the lovely cast, of whom Meryl Streep (The River Wild (1994)), Julie Walters (Billy Elliott (2000)) and Christine Baranski (Relative Strangers (2006)) are best.
Dominic Cooper (My Week with Marilyn (2011)) is miscast and looks like an only cute but not very bright or genuine husband-to-be. And below the colorful shenanigans the film wears on the nerves with its story: In part its gender-based, cliche-heavy stringency, - men and women who seem to come from different planets the whole way through, - and in part the problems with Streep's character: Though she seems like an intelligent woman, it is not until the end, - in a wedding scene that in a bizarre way is suddenly no longer the daughter's but instead her mother's, - that she realizes that it was her father-seeking daughter who had invited the three 'ghosts' of her romantic past to the island, (of course.) It is also hard to reconcile that this same charming, attractive mother character has spent her entire adult life on a Greek island without developing any meaningful relationships there, (all the locals are extras only.) To put it mildly; preposterous.

Related post:

Phyllida Lloyd: The Iron Lady (2011) - Meryl Streep's global triumph as Lady Thatcher

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  

Cost: 52 mil. $
Box office: 609.9 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 11.72 times its cost)
[Mamma Mia! premiered 30 June (London) and runs 108 minutes. Shooting took place in Marrakech, Morocco, Greece, the UK and in California. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release The Dark Knight, to a 27.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another two weeks in the top 5 (#3-#4) and grossed 144.1 mil. $ (23.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 94.3 mil. $ (15.5 %) and Germany with 39 mil. $ (6.4 %). It was the highest-grossing live-action musical until Beauty and the Beast (2017), the highest-grossing film directed by a woman until Wonder Woman (2017), and the 5th highest-grossing film of the year, (3rd highest-grossing 'internationally', that is without North America.) It was nominated for 2 Golden Globes, 3 BAFTAs, a Grammy and some other awards. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this review. The film became the fastest-selling DVD release ever in the UK, selling 1.6 mil. units in its first day, ending with more than 5 mil. sales there. It fared similarly in Sweden, where ABBA are from, both in cinemas and on DVD. The-Numbers estimate the home video sales at more than 147.3 mil. $. The stars returned for Ol Parker's sequel Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (2018), which was successful if not a mega-hit as its predecessor. Lloyd returned with The Iron Lady (2011), again with Streep. Streep returned first in Doubt (2008); Pierce Brosnan (Seraphim Falls (2006)) with a voice performance in Thomas & Friends: The Great Discovery - The Movie (2008) and physically in The Greatest (2009). Mamma Mia! is rotten at 54 % with a 5.53/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Mamma Mia!?

Bowfinger (1999) or, Making Chubby Rain

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+ Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year + Best Parody of the Year

Two of Hollywood's biggest comedy stars meet for the first time in what appears a simple con plot on this poster for Frank Oz's Bowfinger

 
Steve Martin (iThree Amigos! (1986)) plays Bowfinger, a man who desperately wants to make a Hollywood movie hit. With a persevering team of amateurs, one involuntary, unknowing major star, Kit Ramsay, and Ramsay's unknown, dim-witted brother, Bowfinger somehow succeeds in creating the action science fiction film, Chubby Rain.

 
Bowfinger is written by writer/co-star Steve Martin (L.A. Story (1991)) and directed by Frank Oz (The Dark Crystal (1982)). 

While the film might be no major laugh fest, it works wonders as a major enjoyment for lovers of classic comedy and the Hollywood movie business, which it parodies gleefully. It is entertaining and very agreeable and a somewhat nostalgic trip to a way of making comedies that's not being done much anymore, (regrettably.)
The pairing of Eddie Murphy (The Golden Child (1986)) and Martin, two of big screen comedy's biggest stars in the preceding decades, is a merry success.
Bowfinger is a funny film with a slew of good supporting actors as well: Heather Graham (Wander (2020)), Christine Baranski (The Bravest Knight (2019, TV-series)), Adam Alexi-Malle (Hidalgo (2004)), Terence Stamp (Unfinished Song (2012)) and Robert Downey Jr. (Only You (1994)) are all very good.

Related posts:

Frank Oz:  Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) - Despite stale romance and Anakin, Episode II excites (voice actor) 

Top 10: Best Hollywood-set movies

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 55 mil. $
Box office: 98.6 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.79 times its cost)

[Bowfinger was released 13 August (North America, Switzerland) and runs 97 minutes. The enormous cost is likely to be ballooned by sky-high fees for Murphy, Martin and Oz, but they are regrettably unreported. Shooting took place from June - September 1998 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #2, behind hold-over hit The Sixth Sense, to a an 18 mil. $ weekend in North America, where it spent another 4 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#4-#4-#5), grossing 66.3 mil. $ (67.2 % of the total gross. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Oz returned with The Score (2001). Murphy returned in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000); Martin in The Venice Project (1999). Bowfinger is certified fresh at 81 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Bowfinger?