My review of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is now available at Christian Spotlight on Entertainment.
The film opens this Friday, but I was able to get a ticket to an advance showing in Raleigh last week. Worth watching if you liked Knocked Up. (And no, the screenin wasn't specific to crtics nor obtained through the publication venue, so spare me the finger wagging about embargoes and blackout dates, please.)
5 comments:
It's the editor, not the writer, that needs the finger-wagging. Writers, after all, have to submit their work early. It is the editors who decide when to publish it. :)
True, but this editor is one who relies almost exclusively on volunteer reviewers or freelance submissions. If I'm an editor and a freelance writer had independently screened the film, then I (personally) see no reason why I can't avail myself of that fact. (I remember there was a stink when some venue, I think NYT ran a Harry Potter review a day early because z writer found a book store that put out copies early.)
Worse case scenario is that the studio is reluctant to invite that particular publisher to advance screenings they run. (FWIW, I've only ever been to one junket in my life, and when the same publisher sent me to the junket it told me it couldn't run the review until opening day. So, I interpret them as saying "If we send you or get you access, we have to hold the review; if you get access on your own, more power to you.")
Overall, though, I agree with you that it's mostly between the venue and the studio.
How was Kristen Bell in the film? I like "Veronica Mars," but I am not convinced she's good in it--I think the writing on the show is just so whip-smart that she can't screw it up. Her voiceovers on that show are awful.
Michial--I'd say she's okay, but certainly not a revelation. It's a pretty one-dimensional, stock role. Part of that is the fault of the script--it gives Sarah one speech explaining why she dumped Peter but no real motivation for why she liked Aldous nor why his dumping her makes her appreciate Peter specifically (as opposed to just not wanting to be alone). There is something ironic in a metafictive way when Sarah starts riffing on fears of being unable to move from television to features, but it's not exactly pushing her range. Sarah is certainly more vacuous and superficial than Veronica, but I didn't notice much different in teh way Bell plays either character...the differences were in the lines the character was given rather than performance style. I like Bell and think she has real charm, but this wasn't a break out role for her by any stretch.
Yeah, I'm waiting for her to prove that she can transform material; it seems like right now the best she can do is not ruin good material. But I haven't seen her on "Heroes," so maybe she's amazing on that.
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