Home Celebrity NY Times Follows Up on Our “Neighborhood Watch” Story

I wrote on Forbes.com back on March 26th that Fox might have trouble releasing “Neighborhood Watch.” That’s the film in which Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill, wearing motorcycle jackets with the movie’s logo, are suburban vigilantes. In the trailer, they terrorize a local teen. Children and the black postal worker on the beat are clearly afraid of them. Menacing rap music plays on the soundtrack. The next day, Fox said it was pulling its ads and marketing, but keeping the July 27th release date. I wrote that none of this seemed feasible given the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman shooting in Florida. On the imdb.com message boards, fans are voicing the same opinion. The Drudge Report featured our story prominently. Today, the New York Times picked up our story without bothering to credit where it all came from. But imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or whatever. Anyway, my guess is that Fox will have to postpone the release.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerfriedman/2012/03/27/fox-pulls-ben-stiller-movie-neighborhood-watch-per-our-expose/

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Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
1 reply to this post
  1. POSTPONE? Why not HEAVILY PROMOTE a movie that apparently uses comedy to expose the ugly truth — that federally-funded community policing and neighborhood watch programs nationwide have legalized hate- and ideology-driven vigilantism. Read this veteran journalist’s report, “Gestapo USA” at http://VicLivingston.blogspot.com

    NOTE: An earlier attempt to post this comment apparently was altered in transit to corrupt the link. How could that happen? Read this:

    http://nowpublic.com/world/u-s-govt-censors-internet-political-speech-fraud-deception

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