Whenever I get to thinking about the current dreadful state of the movie industry, and how it got this way, it helps to visit a website largely catering to fanboys.
Case in point: Rotten Tomatoes recently ran a piece on Judd Apatow's all-time favorite movies. I should point out I have nothing against Apatow. His TV work, especially, is genius: He had a hand in The Larry Sanders Show, Freaks And Geeks, Undeclared. Plus, the guy's worked with both Joel Hodgson and Marshall Crenshaw, so for that alone my admiration is boundless.
In film, though, his reputation rests on two movies he's directed, The Forty-Year-Old Virgin (which I mostly liked) and Knocked Up (which I mostly hated). Apatow also has a producing credit on seemingly every movie Will Farrell has ever made and writing credits for various Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler efforts.
A mixed bag, but I think we can agree there's nothing in Apatow's filmography that would tax the intellectual capacities of your average beer-swilling, video game-playing, porn-lovin' twentysomething male. These movies are stuffed with dick jokes and easy sentimentality.
Anyway, the Rotten Tomatoes piece is obviously nothing more than Apatow attempting to drum up interest in yet another movie he's slapped his name on, the dreadful-sounding Drillbit Taylor. But it's an interesting list, and it gives some indication of what Apatow is at least shooting for in his films, something more apparent in his TV work: comedy informed by real experience, real pain.
His favorite movies, according to the list, are The Last Detail, Terms Of Endearment, Being There, Welcome To The Dollhouse and Tootsie. Not a bad list at all. I actually hated Welcome To The Dollhouse but I know Todd Solondz has admirers smarter than me, and I'm no big fan of Terms Of Endearment, although it's easy to see its mixture of sitcom laughs with manipulative heartbreak reflected in Apatow's work. Tootsie, though, is a model of smart comedy filmmaking, and The Last Detail and Being There show what a great director Hal Ashby could be--they're masterpieces of sustained tone.
Unfortunately, this list comes with comments from regular visitors to Rotten Tomatoes, and they're mostly of the "This sucks, I hate it" variety. Here are some typically insightful examples: "ZZZZ." "Yuck, yuck and more yuck." "how could one of the best directors in the world get his inspiration from **** movies?"
That last one's my favorite. Lack of caps aside, Apatow as one of the best directors in the world? Really?
Sadly, probably in this person's world, yes. More sadly still, commentors at sites like this and (shudder) Ain'tItCoolNews clearly have no idea what they're talking about--you think any of these clowns have actually seen The Last Detail?--but they've been given a forum, and undeserved influence.
These are the people studios cater to when they churn out the latest gross-out comedy, the latest toothless remake of a Japanese horror movie, the latest hyperkinetic action spectacle. Even though the box-office returns keep diminishing, executroids in Hollywood continue to monitor these sites, tailoring their product to what they perceive as the target audience.
So we get movies made for people who think I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry totally rules, and Being There is ****.
