1. Land of the Lost (Universal, 3,521 Theaters, 93 Minutes, Rated PG-13): The latest in a summer of movies that will irritate hardcore fans arrives. And this one might gets fans the most upset.
The Land of the Lost TV series could very well be called campy, but only because of the budget. I believe it cost lest to make the entire series than it did to pay Will Ferrell for this film. But the plots were fairly serious. The series is definitely a part of many Gen Xers childhood memories.
But this remake is aiming for laughs, pure and simple. Ferrell appears to be shouting his lines of dialogue and acting like more of an idiot than usual. I don’t know how rabid the fans of the TV show are, but I’d imagine if there are any diehards out there, this film will set them off. How this would affect the film’s box office is anybody’s guess.
2. The Hangover (Warner Brothers, 3,269 Theaters, 100 Minutes, Rated R): All you teetotalers out their in the reading audience might not believe that anyone can have severe memory loss after a raucous night of drinking, well, while not revealing too much about my misspent youth, let me tell you that it is entirely plausible.
Of course, the thing I usually forgot was conversations, professing my love for a good friend (which, trust me, makes the friendship after that really awkward), or singing along to a Willie Nelson song. The characters in this film have to deal with finding a baby in a closet, a tiger in their bathroom, a missing tooth and a missing bridegroom. I was never THAT far gone!
The film deals with the trio trying to put the clues together and find out what happened. Which will be hard because they are in Vegas, and you know what they say about Vegas.
3. My Life In Ruins (Fox Searchlight, 1, 164 Theaters, 98 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Nia Vardalos will forever be linked to My Big Fat Greek Wedding. That was the indie hit, costing about $50 to make yet grossing eleventy bazillion dollars at the box office, which was adapted from her stage play. It not only set expectations high but typecast her as well.
Her career has been fairly quiet since then, so I guess she decided to embrace that typecasting and run with it, because this is another romantic comedy with a Greek theme.
This time, Vardalos plays a tour guide who travels to Greece for work yet finds love. As you can tell by the poster, they are playing up the Greek connection. I hope the statute of limitations hasn’t run out on the success of My Big Fat Greek Wedding so that advertising tactic would be successful.
