Flopped Films Exposed by Their Titles
Four Movie Flops Where the Title Revealed the Film’s Shortcomings
The popular saying goes “you should never judge a book by its cover.” Certainly true. But at the very least, much can be discerned from looking at the “cover" of any type of human work--whether a book, music score, or even film. In the case of films, the title itself can often hint if the film might leave profound room for improvement. Here are four such films from the past few decades that had titles certainly alerting viewers something was awry with the film’s plot, character development, or another aspect of production. These shortcomings eventually did end up impacting box office performance or film reviews.
Out of Time(2003)
This crime drama from the early 2000s, featuring Denzel Washington and Eva Mendes, leaves a lot to be desired in terms of plot and character development. In fact, the title may give viewers and critics the impression that writers and producers were “out of time” to work out all of the plot twists or bring the characters to some semblance of real-life. One 2003 Miami-Herald Review from Rotten Tomatoes points out the obvious shortcomings nicely: “Out of Time isn’t entirely memorable, and it contains enough plot holes to drive a train through.” But Washington’s and Mendes’ performances, along with a reasonable amount of action, love, and comedy, bring the film enough flair to deliver it semi-positive reviews and helped it to at least break even at the box office.
Denzel Washington’s character is a small Florida Keys’ village chief of police, estranged from his homicide detective wife Alex(Eva Mendez) and having an affair with married high school sweetheart Ann Merai-Harrison(Sanaa Lathan). Ann lures Police Chief Whitlock into her horrid life with husband Chris Harrison(Dean Cain) and successfully cons Whitlock into handing her over half a million dollars in police evidence money. When Whitlock finds Ann has actually conned him, he finds himself is running out of time to recoup the stolen money and also to clear himself from being setup for a double homicide.
Clearing up some plot holes might have saved the fictional Whitlock a whole lot of stress. The very prospect of Whitlock handing over evidence money to his fling is an untenable plot twist that leaves viewers scratching heads. Add to the mix an arson with two alleged fatalities at the Whitlock’s fling’s home. Then, some phantom criminal mastermind behind the surreal criminal conspiracy comes out of the shadows to battle with Whitlock in a hotel room. When a film requires viewers to take notes to keep up with the plot and then leaves them wondering exactly how the events all could have even transpired to begin with, clearly writers and producers could have used extra time to fill in a few holes. But Detective Alex Diaz-Whitlock’s entry on scene as the supervising detective helps to balance her estranged husband’s fall into the Twilight Zone. As she comes to realize what Chief Whitlock has gotten himself into, the real plot twist becomes if she will be able to save him — and their marriage — before it is too late. Washington’s and Mendes’ superb acting and chemistry helped this film to succeed in spite of its shortcomings.
Broken City(2013)
Viewers and critics have often critiqued this film in the same light as the movie foretells its fictional version of New York City —having more than a few broken parts. With a solid screenplay plus stars like Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Mark Wahlberg, viewers expect that Broken City should have passed the bar in numerous areas. But the film’s elements seem to break apart before the film has a chance to get up and running. There is just too much baggage weighing down the characters and story flow. A review from Oregen Live sums it up nicely: “Or rather, it only gets half-complicated. And because the movie’s complicated stuff feels at odds with its uncomplicated stuff, it leaves “Broken City” feeling mediocre.”
Mark Wahlberg’s protagonist Billy Taggart is a former police officer living in exile after questionably taking down a criminal several years earlier. He is a private detective with a feisty secretary and aspiring actress girlfriend at home, some details that seem even more background noise as soon as he gets caught up with the scandalous mayor Nicholas Hostetler(Russell Crowe). Hostetler hires him to track his wife’s(Catherine Zeta-Jones)lover. The man he finds her with is actually her friend and advisor of the mayor’s political opponent who holds dirt on the mayor that may jeopardize his reelection bid. Soon Taggart realizes that he has become a pawn in the mayor’s murder plot, and must risk everything — even his own freedom — to make things right. The often disjointed plot elements leave viewers needing to take notes to put things together, and the characters may seem better fit for a video game than the big screen. But the exemplary acting and deeper themes may draw many viewers back in, even if just for a chance to see Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta-Jones face off as a fictional power couple caught up in crime and scandal.
Bad Teacher(2011)
Oh boy, Miss Elizabeth Halsey(played by Cameron Diaz) from the 2011 film Bad Teacher is a horrible teacher. She comes to work hungover, forgets the kids’ names, and shows movies day in and day out. Additionally, she is just so morally bankrupt as a person that many will find her wicked dark side sucks much of the light out of an otherwise fun, humorous, and moving film. Perhaps we expect more from teacher films because we have too many classics like Goodbye Mr. Chips or Mr. Holland’s Opus revealing all too human teachers finding the classroom to be the sacred place they help transform students as well as themselves. But are real-life teachers ever really this horrible? One Slate review hits the nail right on the head in terms of Miss Halsey’s character flaws: “But we never detect the human being behind her exterior of awfulness or witness a moment of vulnerability, introspection, or regret.”
In the film, Miss Halsey is able to win over administrators with her enticing charm but struggles to woo a wealthy fellow teacher Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake). The main reason for this is that he seems to prefer women of a different anatomy type. All the while, she shrugs off the advances of genuinely kind and decent gym teacher Russell Gettis(Jason Segel) and quickly competes with colleague Amy Squirrel(Lucy Punch). Amy Squirrel is an overly-energetic overachiever consistently winning “educator of the year” who successfully picks up Mr. Delacorte before Elizabeth can make her move. It might have been enough if Elizabeth had gotten caught up in small-time scams like milking extra cash from the seventh grade car wash or medicating herself with illegal paraphernelia during class. But she goes as far as to steal the state test master key from an unsuspecting state employee(Thomas Lennon). Her main drive is to win a $5700 bonus so she can get long-desired cosmetic surgery to land a wealthy husband. Viewers will receive a crass education lesson in the 4th Amendment. If you illegally switch and search your nemesis fellow educator’s desk to discover a criminal mastermind’s top scandal, be prepared to take the fall if search dogs then find drugs in the stolen desk now legally in your possession(as sadly happens to Miss Squirrel)! Although Miss Halsey’s moral bankruptcy will leave viewers and critics wondering how this film could have ever won the 2011 Teen’s Choice Awards in numerous categories, the films’ humor, drama, and solid plot twist make up for the lack of development in the protagonist’s character. Diaz, Timberlake, Segel, and others all deliver solid performances that certainly helped this film bring in over $200 million at the box office.
Firewall(2006)
The underlying plot in this film is bank robbers forcing a bank security executive(Harrison Ford) to break through his bank’s firewall to score a multi-million dollar robbery. However, the main namesake of Firewall may actually be the large blocks breaking up key plot segments or the barriers to more positive reviews. Stars Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, and especially the kid stars give strong performances. But that is not enough to salvage the film from numerous negative critiques. One Seattle Post-Intelligencer review even described the film as “cliche. . .way too full of tedious computer stuff. . .[and] disrespect[ing] Seattle.”
Harrison Ford’s character Jack Stanfield is a happily married middling bank executive who has everything he could have ever asked for with his wife Beth(Virginia Stanfield) and two kids. But then bank robbers come out of nowhere to take his family hostage and force him to siphon funds from his bank’s top accounts. The film seems to aim for the heights of the Ocean‘s heist series, but seems to leave viewers scratching their hands at an array of unfeasible plot twists and probably wondering when Jack will get a chance to rest. But Ford’s strong presence drew viewers in for this film to perform modestly well at the box office. In addition, then-child actor Jimmy Bennett received a Young Artist Award nomination for his role as son Andy Stanfield. Clearly there were no firewalls in terms of solid acting from multiple stars.
More Than Meets the Eye
It’s true you cannot judge a book by its cover. Add to that, it is true that a film with profound shortcomings might not also have profound strong points and successes. And although these films may have faced numerous dismal reviews or box office performances, how can anyone have the last word on the film’s ultimate success and long-term impact? Like books or paintings or articles, films are only a finished product in the eyes of viewers and critics. Writers, producers, directors, and actors have put in countless hours of labor, sweat, and self to develop the film from initial proposal to final screenplay to fully developed video. Viewers and critics can offer great insights and critiques, but also cannot lose sight of any film’s positives. Often, even movies with profound shortcomings still allure large audiences who keep coming back. These four films in particular are not only significant because of their revealing titles, but also because they have positive traits to lure viewers back in.
