Flophood
By Mitch Berg
Uma Thurman’s latest, Motherhood, flopped badly in the US, bringing in only $40,000 toward a $3.5 million budget.
But that was great compared to its showing in the UK; opening weekend brought in a grand total of 11 viewers, including only one on its debut Sunday. The total take for its UK opening weekend?
£88.
Barry Norman, the critic, said it was “astonishing” that only 11 people could be bothered to go and see a film starring Thurman. “The reviews were very poor indeed but that alone isn’t enough to explain it.”
True.
But the Tarantino Curse does explain it. Working with Tarantino seems to have become a Faustian bargain for stars; make big bank now, and get on the train for palookaville later.
March 30th, 2010 at 8:00 am
Yeah after “Pulp Fiction” John Travolta, Bruce Willis, and Samuel L. Jackson have almost completely faded from view.
March 30th, 2010 at 8:10 am
Look what happened to David Carradine.
March 30th, 2010 at 8:19 am
Yeah after “Pulp Fiction” John Travolta, Bruce Willis, and Samuel L. Jackson have almost completely faded from view.
No, but none of them really has the mojo anymore.
March 30th, 2010 at 8:33 am
No, but none of them really has the mojo anymore.
Right, where mojo isn’t landing more work than you can physically do in a year.
C’mon, Mitch…swing and a miss buddy!
March 30th, 2010 at 8:48 am
I think it would be more accurate to say that actors whose break-out performance is in a Tarantino flick suffer long term stigma. John Travolta, Bruce Willis, and Samuel L. Jackson all were well established before Pulp Fiction.
March 30th, 2010 at 9:00 am
Harvey Kietel still hasn’t recovered from Reservoir Dogs.
March 30th, 2010 at 9:32 am
One wonders where the people are that ought to have told Tarantino that what he was doing was a complete dog of a movie.
March 30th, 2010 at 9:48 am
the big problem with the curse is that Tarentino hasn’t done a good movie since Pulp Fiction. Was I the only one that thought Inglorious Basterds was an over rated piece of shit?
March 30th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Before “Pulp Fiction” Travolta was well-established in the “where are they now?” ash heap of entertainment history. The movie helped revive his career and reestablish his place as a star. Far more than a curse, Tarantino’s casting proved to be a blessing for him.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:04 am
The movie helped revive his career and reestablish his place as a star.
Which he’s gone on to squander again.
The curse.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Enh. So it didnt’ kill their careers.
But good God, man, Tarantino sucks.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:34 am
I’d say that if you can get past its jaw-droppingly ridiculous premise, Inglorious Basterds is in fact a superbly-made movie. The Christoph Walz interrogation of the french farmer was an astonishing piece of pacing, dialogue and acting. Ditto the basement shootout. And the projection of Shoshanna onto the smoke and flames in the burning theatre at the climax was an image that will stay with me for a very long time. You wanna talk big-name directors who suck? Brian DePalma oughtta be at the top of anybody’s list.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:34 am
What swiftee said.
March 30th, 2010 at 11:23 am
But good God, man, Tarantino sucks.
What Mitch said.
March 30th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Mitch:
If you look at Uma’s film list, her recent success/flop ratio seems fairly typical. It is not like Gattaca was Titanic.
March 30th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Tarantino aside, doesn’t this happen to most actors. If they’re lucky, they get one big hit, are the next big thing, then kind of fade away.
March 30th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Yeah, I know. It was a reach.
I do detest Tarantino that much.
And it’s partly BECAUSE he’s good at what he does. If he were a negligible talent as a film craftsman, nobody would care that he’s Beavis with a thing for crap.
March 30th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
“I do detest Tarantino that much.”
X2
March 30th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Tarantino is a lot like Kevin Smith for me: moments of fabulous, tone-perfect art wrapped in garbage. To steal a line from a favorite movie of my kids (not a Tarantino or Smith film): “once you get past the gag reflex you open up a world of possibilities…” There are those moments in Pulp Fiction (actually more than the junk) and it’s about 50/50 for the Kill Bill series.
I started watching Basterds a couple of weeks ago. The scene with the farmer at the beginning and the later interview with Shoshonna in the restaurant were classics of quiet, steadily increasing, claustrophic suspense. But I was tired, and kind of stressed by other things, and I turned it off halfway through, thinking I’d finish it the next day. When I went to turn it back on I realized that I didn’t really have much interest in finding out how it ended. I took it out and mailed it back to Netflix the same day.
March 30th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Bruce is making an appearance in that new movie due out in August… it looks like a bunch of guys are going to punch, kick, smash, cut, shoot, blow up, run over, and generally kick ass as well as get punched, kicked, smashed, cut, shot, blown up, ran over, and generally get their asses kicked.
I can’t remember the title, but it has a metal skull with “wings” made out of big effing guns and knives. I think there’s a story in there, but whatever.
March 30th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Pulp fiction wasn’t any fun to see, kill bill was lousy, etc. Tarantino is big in Hollywood but nonexistent in my viewing world. Not surprised Uma’s latest is lousy.
March 31st, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Badda:
It’s called “The Expendables”. It’s being made by Sylvester Stallone, and stars or has cameos of pretty much every major action movie actor of the last 20 years except Van Damme and Steven Seagal. Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin (the wrestler), Mickey Rourke, and cameos by Willis and The Guvehnatuh.
Of course, I’ll be looking forward to Charisma Carpenter’s role the most.