The Dumbing Down of U.S. Films

The Dumbing Down of U.S. Films
by Steve Finkelstein

I’m back after a long hiatus, to submit an article commemorating the one year anniversary of Marty’s brilliant blogosphere exercise (or, perhaps, a belated anniversary; I’m not sure when this damn thing is gonna be posted). I’ve heard begging entreaties from my fan base (a huge number of discerning readers), asking why I’ve haven’t been contributing tomes of late. As Babblog’s foremost film critic (sorry, Dileep), the answer is simple: because of the surplus of dumb cinematic product out there, I’m just not going to the movies nearly as much as I used to. It’s easy to see why U.S. box office is in a prolonged slump—the movies suck. Last year, I went to the movies the least amount of times since I became a film buff in my forgotten youth, a long time ago.

When big studio movies started going sour in the 80’s, I was driven to see U.S. independent films and foreign language movies simply to catch thoughtful product—a course of action for any sentient movie buff. This trend continues today for me, but the selection of current U.S. indies is slim pickings, so when I go to the art house, it’s mainly to see foreign language films. This has been reflected in my most recent articles
with my reviews of Head-on and Downfall, which will be on my list of the best films of ’05 (only five months to wait for that, oh patient Babblog readers).

This trend continues, as I will soon catch Saraband, the latest work from the celebrated Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. I’ve only seen five Bergman films (The 7th Seal, Wild Strawberries,The Magician, The Virgin Spring and Through a Glass Darkly). His films mainly deal with Scandinavian metaphysical angst. The films I mentioned are quite good, but they tend to be overrated, pretentious and dated; only Wild Strawberries can be considered a classic. When it comes to foreign language directors, the films of Kurosawa and Fellini are much more to my liking. If that’s the case, why am I going to catch Bergman’s latest film? Simply because the surplus of dumb U.S. film product forces me to do so.

Part of the reason for the current bumper crop of lousy U.S. flicks is the fact the the major studios are risk averse, due to the huge cost of making movies. It’s much safer to do a remake of an old movie or a dumb TV show than to do something original; it has a built in recognition factor for audiences, as the “suits” at the studios would say.

However, the real reason for these moronic movies is much more insidious: the studios are being run by a pack of idiots. In a recent Los Angeles Times article, Sony production chief Amy Pascal defended the stupid movie remake of Bewitched by saying, “It proves that love and magic are the same thing.” Puh-leaase! Get me a vomit bag! In that same article, another studio head said something like, “I make movies that I loved in my youth; I don’t know who made them, though.” UGH! Is it any wonder that the current spate of films is so idiotic?

I will be doing empirical research on this very subject when I catch The Fantastic Four approximately three hours from now. I loved the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby comic as a kid and am hoping (despite the spate of bad reviews) that it won’t be the pile of dreck that has been flooding the theaters of late. I'll let you know in a few hours.

A few hours later. I'm back. Apparently, my optimism was misplaced. The Fantastic Four is one of the worst films of the year. To lovers of the original comic book, this in no way resembles the classic Lee-Kirby comic. It's more like an inane, updated MTV “reimagining” of the original property. But even those who aren’t comic book purists will hate it. Complete with cheesy special effects and lousy production value, it has the amateurish look of a direct to DVD movie. On every level—acting, writing and directing—it stinks. The best of the filmed adaptations of Marvel comics (the X-Men and Spiderman films) had gifted artistic teams working on the movies. The Fantastic Four is the work of hacks. It’s deadly dull, uninvolving and stupid, which are the kindest adjectives I can apply to this mess.

Somehow, I’m still in the mood for light cinematic fare. I think I’ll catch that breezy film on Scandinavian metaphysical angst.

See you soon.