Don't judge a movie by its promo

During the past week I have managed to sneak in a little downtown to view three movies. One movie I saw at the theater with some girlfriends, the other two I viewed on Netflix DVDs over the weekend. The film picks included: "Little Black Book", "Wicker Park" and "Beauty Shop".

I had high hopes for "Little Black Book". I loved the promos for the movie, the movie poster, and the Maroon Five song that they used in the trailers...but the movie itself never lived up to what it promised. My husband and I actually started watching the movie two weekends ago, but were so bored after the first twenty minutes that we put the film on ice. I pulled it out again this weekend, hoping that the movie would get better and redeem itself...but, sadly, it never did. I was hoping for a cute romantic comedy. It was just dull and stupid. I did like the fact that the girl eventually realizes that she is not right for her man, moves on and lets him go. Other than that, the movie is pretty lame, and I don't remember hearing Maroon Five except, I think in the opening credits. There were some nice flashbacks to Carly Simon's music however, causing me to buy her CD "No Secrets" on Amazon yesterday! Rating: D

I was intrigued with the promos for "Wicker Park". Based upon limited knowledge of the movie and the previews, I had already formed a theory as to how the plot would develop. I expected a Hitchcockian twist that would deliver a surprise ending. I wanted to see if I had figured out the plot twist. The film, however, much like "Little Black Book" was kind of boring. I never once developed a liking for the moronic couple that "loses" track of themselves due to the manipulations of one love-sick girl. How dumb is that. Have they ever heard of a cell phones, email, Instant Messaging, the United States post office, blogging or actually talking in person. In my opinion, they deserved to get "lost" if they can't manage to communicate to each other their plans in the first place. The basis of the entire film is just not credible and it was just plain painful to watch the couple keep missing running into each other on the street. Rating: D-

The third movie that I have seen recently, is "Beauty Shop" with Queen Latifah. From watching the movie promos, I figured I had pretty much seen the entire movie and the best punch lines the movie had to offer. As a result, I had very low expectations for this movie. I went to the show, basically, because I needed an escape from the house and work. My friends, who invited me to go along with them, had already determined the movie that they wanted to see so I didn't really have a choice in the matter. I figured, what the heck, it will be a nice break for my overstressed brain. But, surprisingly, this movie was terrific. Not a world changing movie but, still it was a hoot. It is funny, cute and provided a great escape. It surprised me, which is what a good film is supposed to do. Rating: A

It just goes to show...you can't judge a movie by its promo!