You may have seen something about “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” in the back of New York city taxicabs. I saw this unusual musical back on July 2nd in a tent pitched in the meat packing district across from the Standard Hotel. It’s part dinner theater, part Russian opera and very unique. It’s a little exhausting but well worth the money and very different than your average theater experience. A few producers were in that night by coincidence, trying to figure out how to move the show uptown. Their answer: the “Natasha” tent will be pitched in that parking lot on West 45th St. between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. Right now the lot is host to a lot of tacky pop up shops. The run is for 14 weeks, they say. But I think it will catch on and stay longer. You’ve got to see this. I only wish David Byrne’s “Here Lies Love” could do this too.
New Music from Elton John, Jennifer Hudson
Driving in today from Connecticut, I heard Elton John’s new “Home Again” on WHUD. What a great song. At the same time, Jennifer Hudson has released “Bleed for Love” from her “Winnie Mandela” movie which opens this Friday. Two excellent new releases as the Grammy deadline approaches September 30th. Also coming: Sting’s “The Last Ship” and Garland Jeffreys’ “Truth Serum.” Plus last week’s Paul McCartney song, “New.”
ELTON JOHN
JENNIFER HUDSON
Moviegoing: Why “The Butler” Is a Film and “We’re The Millers” Is Not
I went to the movies this afternoon because the Yankees were rained out. My parents wanted to see “The Butler” so I drove them over to Bullard Square in Fairfield, Connecticut. Since I’ve seen “The Butler” a couple of times, I bought a ticket for “We’re the Millers,” which was starting ten minutes later. The 4pm show for “The Butler” was about a third full when my parents got settled, and bid them adieu. In the theater for “Millers” there were about 20 people. The comedy with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis has been a big hit, and I hadn’t seen it so I figured: Why not? How bad could it be?
Actually it quite atrocious. Badly made, to start with. The production looks one dimensional.Flat. There’s no depth. (It reminded me of “Mamma Mia,” another New Line movie.) So that was a bad sign. And then people started talking.
“We’re the Millers” is supposed to be a comedy. I was in a theater with 20 other people. No one was laughing. People were talking on the screen but in the audience people were whispering to each other. A couple were using their phones. Why? Because from the start, “We’re the Millers” is preposterous. Not outrageous. It’s dull. It’s directed without any point of view. And you can feel it from the beginning. It’s a contrived situation about an unsympathetic character: a marijuana dealer named Dave (Sudeikis) who’s just a loser. He has no finer qualities or aspirations. And right at the start he insults an old college friend who has a job, a family, and an SUV. I’m surprised the white suburban audience it’s been made for doesn’t realize they’re being ridiculed.
Next we meet Aniston’s stripper, Rose. She’s at least two decades too old for the role. She seems grim. And there’s immediate unfunny discussions, graphically, about sleeping with the customers. At some point, Luiz Guzman shows up as a Mexican border patrol cop who may accept sexual favors from either Sudeikis or Aniston if one of them will “suck his dick.” Or something. Sudeikis describes this as “Sophie’s Choice.” That’s when I knew I’d be leaving.
I did leave, about an hour into it. Watching “We’re the Millers” is a painful exercise. I felt like a nail was being driven into my head during this lost hour. It’s not that it’s shockingly offensive. It’s boringly offensive. I’s coarse and vulgar in the wrong way. The screenplay was set up for jokes that couldn’t land because they had no launch. When characters are simply mean-spirited to each other, you’re not going to like them either.
Is this what comedy has become? I love movies like “Airplane!” and “There’s Something About Mary” and “Borat” because they’re not only outrageous. They’re also empathetic. And maybe too it’s this generation of comic actors. I don’t have a soft spot for Ed Helms the way I do for Bill Murray. I don’t think I ever will.
Plus “We’re the Millers” would have worked as a subversive indie film. As a big studio effort, it bewilders me. The characters seem like they were drawn up originally as snarky, satiric, underworld people who might bond and form a family in the loosest sense after mocking family values. But as players in a studio film, they can only go far. It felt as though they’d been re-drafted to fit the mainstream, and were drained of all actual personality.
I walked back into “The Butler” just as Forest Whitaker came home to tell Oprah that JFK had been shot. To my surprise, the theater was packed. There was one empty seat, on the aisle, in the back. Apparently it had filled up five minutes before showtime. Within seconds, I was back in the story. Danny Strong’s screenplay is so strong, so well built, and you climb into it as if it were Cadillac DeVille. The story purrs. Oprah Winfrey just remains a revelation. Whitaker is sublime. The score is lovely. And seeing “The Butler” for a third or fourth time, you do pick up on the quick cuts back and forth as the civil rights story interweaves with the people in the White House.
It’s always instructive to see movies with paying audiences, and not just view screenings with media types. I saw how this group responded to the film. They were enthralled. Jokes landed properly. They loved the black and white early 70s one piece outfits worn by Whitaker and Winfrey. Alan Rickman and Jane Fonda commanded their attention as the Reagans. And when the movie ended, there was applause, genuine applause. Many stayed and watched the credits. You felt as if your time had not been wasted.
And for that, all I can is, thank you. Life is too short for “We’re the Millers.” And it’s not moviemaking. It’s just a cynical attempt to see how far crudeness can go. “The Butler” feels like a great meal or a wonderful conversation.
“Fifty Shades of Grey” Casts Dakota Johnson and Charlie Hunnam in Leads
The mega bestselling piece of junk novel has found its movie leads: Dakota Johnson will play Anastasia Steele. Charlie Hunnam will be Christian Grey, the man who ties her up a lot. Johnson is the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith. Hunnam is a star of “Sons of Anarchy” and has for a long time been a guy who just about to break out big time. Sam Taylor Johnson, who was Sam Taylor Wood until she got pregnant by (at age 43) and married 19 year old British actor Aaron Johnson, is the director. (Aaron Johnson is now 23, and Sam Taylor etcetera is 46.)
This should be good, right? If history tells us anything, movies made from really awful bestsellers do not turn out great. The material is so bad, and once it’s filmed, it looks worse. Harold Robbins, Jacqueline Susann, and Judith Krantz hubba hubba hot sexy books all turned out this way on screen.
With “Fifty Shades,” it could be a couple of results: it’s too hot for a R rating, gets an NC-17, and has to be edited severely. Or they just don’t bother to go for it, so the movie doesn’t meet any expectations. And then we have recent examples like “Friends with Benefits” or “Love and Other Drugs” each of which was extremely tedious. Watching naked actors loses its novelty after 20 minutes. And if the dialogue comes from that book, the word “Glitter” won’t be too far behind.
Well, good luck to everyone. A lot of publicity will accompany this project. People will be “shocked” and “stunned,” there will be muffled protests, anger from women’s groups, and a big kerfuffle. Two years from now “Fifty Shades” will be on Netflix. Pass the handcuffs.
PS The big story will be which designer get the tie tie-in. The ties must be great looking but sturdy. My vote would be Zegna. Not like I know anything about this.
MDA Labor Day Telethon is a Ratings Bust, Finishing 4th for the Night
I can’t say I’m shocked. The MDA Show of Strength “telethon” on ABC was a ratings bust. It finished four last night at 9 and at 10pm, well behind the network competition. In the four half hours, it went from 1.72 million viewers to 1.26 to 1.10 to 1.25. The telethon had a significant fall off from ABC’s “Secret Millionaire” at 8pm, which had 3.98 million. Four or five times the number of people were watching CBS all night from “Big Brother” through “The Mentalist”– and the latter was a repeat. The MDA demo was less than “60 Minutes,” show that skews older anyway. Frankly the Backstreet Boys felt very much like an “Andy Williams Show” act. There was no connection with a young audience at all. MDA’s actual donations during the two hours remain a mystery. Here’s the deal: Jerry Lewis at least provided kitschy hipness from Vegas, with the potential for something cool to happen. The show at least had the Rat Pack vibe in its history. Last night’s show was like a visit to an 8 track counter. But Kenny Loggins is either using amazing cosmetics or has a fantastic plastic surgeon. God bless him, he’s 65.
Box Office: “The Butler” Takes One Direction, Wins Labor Day Weekend
Lee Daniels’ “The Butler” won the four day weekend box office for Labor Day, beating teeny boppers One Direction. The Forest Whitaker-Oprah Winfrey drama took in $20 million total Friday- Monday, as opposed to $18 million for “This Is Us,” a 90 minute commercial for the hastily assembled boy band. That’s a relief, isn’t it? One Direction fans turned out less and less over the weekend. There was something they didn’t get from that film– was it sex, or anything personal? Maybe. “The Butler” meantime speeds along to the Oscars. It’s only one of three films released so far in 2013 that could make the top 10 and only one of 2 that will probably will. (I’d rank them “The Butler,” “Blue Jasmine,” and “Fruitvale Station.”) “The Butler” is headed for $100 million and then some.
photo c2013 showbiz411
MDA Fibs About Telethon Money Collected on Website Tote Board
MDA– I don’t get it. They just continue to play word games. It’s all semantics. On their website tote board this morning they’re touting over $54 million raised. You mean last night? From the telethon? No. No No. It’s right there, hiding in plain sight under the numbers: “MDA families thank the generous American public, and the collective contributions of our partners recognized on the telethon, for raising funds to continue the progress in the fight against muscle disease.”
Got that? I bolded the important wording. “The collective contributions of our partners recognized on the telethon.” That’s all the money they’ve collected all year– I suppose it’s since January 1st, 2013. The money collected from big corporations like JiffyLube who became defacto advertisers on the two hour ABC special non-telethon.
In fact, the digital tote board on the website showed just $13 million raised after two hours, and $17 million at 11:23pm. And even that fell under the “collective contributions” rubric.
How much money was raised during that actual broadcast? I think ABC has a mandate to break that down as they allowed this fundraiser on a regular network. If MDA announces $54 million raised on the telethon, ABC is going to have a lot of explaining to do.
Meantime, questions persist about that MGive Foundation, which collected the text message donations. Read my story from last night.
MDA 2Hour Telethon: $17 Million “Raised,” And Questions About Company Collecting Texts
The two hour MDA “Show of Strength” on ABC has just ended. The organization’s website has a digital tote board (since the show was taped a month ago). It says they raised $17 million as of 11:20pm EST. Based on past reports it’s not clear if that was raised or pledged. But more importantly, there’s a problem and I can’t believe it.
MDA uses a group called MGive Foundation in Colorado to collect its donations given by text messaging. But according to Guide Star, MGive Foundation hasn’t filed its own Form 990 tax filing since 2010. That’s three years ago. Under GuideStar rules, MGive could be dropped altogether now because three years is their limit for groups not filing. (They actually filed their 2010 report two years ago and haven’t filed again.)
In 2010, MGive says it collected $21.4 million and had expenses– I am assuming this was the forwarding of donations to charities who used them–$19.4 million. Where did the other $2 million go? I have no idea.
I can’t I’m comfortable with a text donation middle man company that doesn’t file its own reports spotlessly on time. It’s certainly alarming that MDA is using them.
And the show: humorless. Canned. Devoid of personality. Very sad, of course, because the kids need help and need research and money for it. No question about it. Jerry Lewis’s name was invoked once, in passing. Slickly produced. The actual donations will be a result of the audiences’ genuine feelings for the kids. The rest of it looked like it was produced in Branson, Missouri for a generic charity.
Labor Day Telethon: MDA New President Invokes Jerry Lewis Name in Letter to Followers
Here’s a new twist: the new president of Muscular Dystrophy Association has invoked Jerry Lewis’s name in a letter to followers. Stephen M. Derks has posted a letter to website www.mdausa.org summarizing MDA accomplishments and asking for support. But Derks, newly installed from his position as head of the American Cancer Society in Chicago. invokes the name of MDA’s former spokesperson and standard bearer even though the organization famously fired Lewis three years ago.
First Derks writes: “Where would MDA and the fight against 43 muscle diseases be without the amazing Jerry Lewis? Certainly, we would not be at this hopeful spot. Forever he will be our greatest “muscle maker,” a true hero in the hearts of millions. He and all of our sponsors, and thousands of celebrities as well as millions of generous Americans who said “yes” to him, brought our fight into America’s living rooms.”
Then he adds: “Thanks to Americans saying yes to Jerry Lewis’ requests and the requests of all our sponsors and volunteers, new, lifesaving breakthroughs are not only on the horizon they are being injected into people today.”
This is what’s known as a “sop.” It’s a way of exploiting Lewis’s name without apologizing to him or making any kind of peace with him. Lewis must be bitterly amused. But Derks knows that regular contributors to MDA have declined tremendously since Lewis’s ouster. He almost must be fearing a bigger drop tonight after the 2 hour “Show of Strength” special, no longer a telethon, on ABC.
Look up the word “sop,” kids.
PS Lewis’s name appears nowhere else anymore on the MDA website. He’s been erased from their history.
One Direction Soft So Far; “The Butler” Might Have Best Box Office Ever for 4 Day Weekend
Box office: One Direction fans are simply not flocking to the box office to the boy band of 2013. So far “This Is Us” started with a strong Thursday-Friday $8 million take, then fell more than 50% and did $4 million on Saturday and pretty much the same today. The total now is $17 million. Meanwhile Lee Daniels’ “The Butler” looks like it could take the four day weekend. “The Butler” has improved each day over the weekend, the inverse of One Direction. Are One Direction fans simply not spending the money for tickets with back to school supplies needed? The box office response is simply not the tsunami that one might have predicted.
Elsewhere: Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” has crossed the $20 million mark. Its next magic line will be $23.2 million, which was the total for “Vicki Cristina Barcelona.” Then $40 mil for “Hannah and Her Sisters” and $56 million for “Midnight in Paris.” All signs point to the first and maybe second landmarks. Plus awards season will churn it up again.
And Jennifer Aniston has a bona fide hit “We’re the Millers.”All that pole dancing paid off. The reviews weren’t very good, and early box office was so- so. But “We’re the Millers” has turned into the summer comedy hit, a choice away from all the heavy stuff. It may not be a classic comedy, but it’s a relief for searing temperatures.