New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Just like Ronnie say...

Kim Hollis: Take Me Home Tonight, the Topher Grace project that has languished on the shelf for approximately four years, opened to $3.5 million. Why wasn't this one (Eddie) money? (And the crowd groans.)

Brett Beach: Topher and Anna were hoping for Two Tickets to Paradise, but even they can't Walk on Water every time at the box office. I didn't know until a few days ago that this had been held back for so long. It makes me wonder if it was worth it to pay for nearly 2,000 prints, even as a half-hearted marketing campaign so that its existence would roll around foggily in the back of some minds three months from now as a by default Redbox choice at 2 in the morning. What I want to know is: Why was Young Americans the original title? This current title may be generic and desperate, but using a Bowie title from the mid-'70s for a film set in the late 1980s was hopelessly out of place.

Josh Spiegel: Even though this movie looked forgettable, I imagine it holds a special place in the hearts of all my friends who were extras in it. (Yes, that's true; the movie was shot in Phoenix, and some friends are in some major party scene.) Who knows what the studio was thinking with either title. As much as I like Topher Grace and Anna Faris, who needed to see this movie? Aside from my friends, so they could point out their scene to the two other people in the theater with them? Nobody.

Matthew Huntley: Funnily enough, "Take Me Home Tonight" (the song) isn't even in the movie. I guess it was only used for the trailer (and if the title was changed, this makes sense).

Anyway, this movie's performance baffles me a bit. It is a decent comedy with a well-known cast and it had an amusing trailer. Why would I be wrong to expect at least a $10-$13 million opening? I can only speculate its R rating kept a lot of teenagers out and for people who grew up in the '80s (who are now in their late 30s-early 40s), it just didn't seem appealing. If that's the case, who's left to see it?

I personally enjoyed the movie for what it was and others should too, but as far as the cast and filmmakers are concerned, I'm sure they're thinking (or singing), "I want to go back, go back, and do it all over but I can't go back I know." Wah wah.

Bruce Hall: Sometimes the title of a song seems like it would make a good title for a movie. And on that basis alone films are often made. Human nature is to lean toward the lowest common denominator, and the song-title-as-movie-name denominator is usually pretty low. I don't know if that was the case here, but when it happens I automatically (and perhaps cynically) expect the project to under perform. This week I was correct. I'm winning too, Charlie!





Daron Aldridge: I have to join in the befuddlement of why after four years the studios didn't just release it on DVD and call it a day. Maybe, Topher Grace has another project with Relativity Media or Imagine that he was able to bargain to see this one get a theatrical release. He does have a "Story by..." credit on the film after all. That's probably not right because, while I think Grace has an endearing onscreen personality, he has never been the big draw for a film and wouldn't have that kind of pull. Finally, the trailers were amusing enough but as someone who is in the 30s-40s demo that Matthew accurately identifies as the primary audience, there wasn't anything that would make me choose spending $8 now over $1 in a couple months to see it.

Reagen Sulewski: The apparent reason why this got release is that Ron Howard pulled some strings. No, really. Of course, just because they're releasing it doesn't mean the studio has to support it - which they apparently did not. I've never seen someone bust their hump for a film that was so obviously about to fail as Topher Grace did this week, and all credit to him for doing that, but without the TV ads (I think I saw all of two) this was never going to hit.

But, take heart: Dazed and Confused grossed $8 million.

Max Braden: I love anything '80s related and even though I will eventually see it as a rental, the trailers didn't jump out as me as promising. Neither did Hot Tub Time Machine, though, and I was at least suitably entertained. But even taking the product as it is and just swapping in Heigl and Duhamel for example, watch the opening go gangbusters and... triple. The last time Topher Grace could have been reasonably called a lead was In Good Company, with the help of Dennis Quaid and Christmas season money.

Continued:       1       2