Hudson Hawk - dumb?
Truman Show - drawn out?

That's it, you aren't allowed to rent here anymore.

galactus5000

Edinboron

Personally, I liked it, but a lot of people weren't satisfied that it wasn't a monster movie. (I still argue that the parents in that enclave were plenty monstrous enough for me, but that's not the prevailing opinion I've encountered.)

Teapotfox

Teapotfox

zaky

JayP71

bunnymen

I read the book Bridge to Ter. when I was a kid, and as a result would never have seen the movie based on the trailors. I wasn't going to see a movie that ripped apart a book I loved by inserting silly CG fantasy elements that don't belong. So I didn't see it until someone else rented it and lent it to me and told me it wasn't retarded. Had they marketed it as it actually was, I probably would have paid extra to see it in the theater. Instead I saw it for free. So what's the point of making these ridiculous trailors when they just drive away part of the audience?

But the worst of it is when they take a regular movie and try to market it as a horror movie, like Pan's Labyrinth. I'm not a horror movie fan, but I can imagine the disappointment.

Balisong

Perhaps the trailers are distributed before the final cut is completed, but I don't know. I do know something similar happened with Star Wars Episode II. The normal theater version had all trailer clips in the movie, but in the IMAX 3D version, certain clips were missing. I didn't feel gyped, but after seeing the original in the regular theater, it was definitely noticeable.

Funny comment on the "Neverending Story" movie as well. I've been thinking about that for years.

emax4

bonzombiekitty

I know several people who were just *livid* that the girl dies in the end. (And anyone who wants a spoiler alert for a thirty year old book... um, no.)

So... they actually adapted the book well, then made a trailer that turned off people who read the book. Everyone else was led to think that it was a special- effects-heavy fantasy movie. A triumph of egalitarianism, it ticked everyone off.

MameDennis

The entire trailer was footage not shot for/included in the movie. (I seem to recall it being a long shot of them walking along the Riviera, with some voice-over gushing about their characters. At the last moment, one of them pushes an old woman into the water. Or something like that!)

bostonguy

smitty1123

econobiker

rbb

Hudson Hawk, 'trailered' as a Bruce Willis action, was dumb, off-beat comedy.

Truman Show, trailered as a Jim Carrey comedy, was a long, drawn-out drama.

Murph1908

Garden State was promoted with TPS's Such Great Heights, but you'll only find the Iron & Wine version on the soundtrack.

Deusfaux

Yes, I'm one of those freaks who watches movies based on what the soundtrack is (sometimes).

The song never turned up in the movie and I was incredibly pissed. To this day we all remember the movie that falsely advertised the best soundtrack imaginable.

Wasn't a bad film though.

Joel Falconer

doctor_cos

coren

elislider

It's about a bank robbery in Colorado...

RagingTowers

peteyale

HrPingui

Seriously, THREE adults who wanted to see it. None of us had read the book.

Then again, in Elemetry school I was always above my level in reading. Still I never remember having to read it.

I went by what I heard, and what I saw. Which made it look like a Narnia story. I never had a chance to look it up before we got it. So I was NOT expecting what happened.

Seriously wondering if we had the right movie when it started.

Firstborn Dragon

verazula

umuser

@freshyill: OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

lol had to do that. Oh and the corn porn in that movie is the best, along with the REALLY random things they have playing on TV sets.

Egakino

SacraBos

SacraBos

@warf0x0r: COMPLETE AGREEMENT. I expected a lot more action (28 Days later), and more than the "Hey, check out this ending that Bob wrote in 5 minutes!" ending.

MercuryPDX

UpsetPanda

SacraBos

In this day and age, I feel like anyone who is interested in seeing the movies might catch a synopsis online which might explain more about the movie, including details, i.e. Sweeney Todd is a musical, Pan's Labyrinth is foreign language. Of course, I'm a) assuming most people have the internet and the people who don't know are in the minority and b) most people take the time to look up more information before spending their hard-earned $10 on a ticket.

UpsetPanda

I noticed the foreshadowing of the creek, but didn't think it was going something traumatic. We spent 30 minutes consoling our 8-year-old as we all realized what tragedy struck.

We should have known about trusting a Disney movie - a parent or something always dies or is dead/missing. Bambi's Mother dies, Simba's Father dies, Toy Story's Andy had no Father (and Sid's was worthless), and Nemo's Mom dies. Goofy's son Max has no Mom, Ariel had no Mom, just like Jasmine. Even Toy Story, Andy has no Dad. Sid had both mother and father, but look how he turned out.

Not that I'm getting jaded or anything, just saying....

I liked National Treasure 2, though, but the bad guy's kindof let me down.

SacraBos

In any case, I think this is the same as if a vitamin supplement is sold without its advertised contents. Sure the movie might be an inconsequential thing to bitch about, but it's the principle of the thing.

Thorny

I first noticed this when the Wayne's world movies came out (forgive me ... I was young & stupid).... there was a particular scene in the trailer where wayne (or Garth or both... I cant remember) was in his car with the cop-friend he knew & the cop was driving it recklessly & wayne (or garth) said "I'm gonna hurl!" ..... this scene was nowhere in the film when I saw it.... and I felt cheated.

I think it could be considered false advertising on a extremely minor level.

also... yeah, I hate when they misleadingly rearrange the scenes in trailers as well.... its misleading.

forgottenpassword

A lot of people complained Pan's Labyrinth was sort of misleading since it was not in English but the trailer did nothing to hint that.

Recently in theaters I saw previews for Sweeney Todd, which I eventually saw, and it accurately represented the film as a musical. Now on television the commercials I am seeing for it seem to try to hide the fact it is a musical to mislead people into thinking it is just a regular dark Tim Burton movie.

Just because a trailer features footage not shown in the actual movie does not necessarily mean deception though. Think of the commercials for Kill Bill where Uma Thurman is driving a car talking about how she goes on a rampage etc.

It could be argued that most trailers inaccurately represent the movie in an effort to trick viewers into thinking the movie will be better than it actually is but clearly some movie trailers blatantly deceive people about what the movie actually contains.

guroth

Spice World's trailer, when Baby Spice asks, "Is my skirt too short?" and one of the other Spices says yes. Then she hitches it up shorter and they high-five. NOT IN THE MOVIE.

Ugh, did I just admit to watching Spice World? Well, it was at a Drive-in double feature...

kimsama

bombaxstar

sleepydumbdude

faust1200

I like the first National Treasure movie, and the sequel was just as good. I didn't feel cheated and the movie was 4 minutes shy of 2 hours (not counting credits).

I actually like it where the trailer uses different material than the finished movie. That way you're not like "Oh, they used up all the best material in the stinking trailer"

MrEvil

Martha_Jones

True, I'd say it's not false advertising since the idea was in the movie, but as was in the original post, the trailer COULD have had Pamela Anderson in next-to-nothing talking about "unlocking my secrets" and then in the actual movie, it's Ed Asner saying the same line... Is that false advertising to many? (personally I'd rather see Ed, but that's just me).

GenXCub

r4__

From what I hear, the rest of us "regular" movie-goers are going to get a much better film - you know, once some real editors get their hands on it.

92BuickLeSabre

coren

I don't mind if scenes from the trailer don't make the final cut, but could the trailer producers at least ask the director what the THEME of the movie is? Cause that's the biggest problem with 95% of trailers, IMO. (Citation: No Country for Old Men, which was marketed as an action/thriller, but wasn't really either of those in the end).

muddgirl

mathew

nardo218

Zimorodok

Doug Nelson

All the previews and trailers for weeks leading up to the opening heavily (heh, no offense) featured John Goodman, and made it looks like some sort of comedic bug-movie spoof. The day it opened in theaters, all of the TV spots were changed to horror movie trailers, with no sign of Mr. Goodman.

As I remember it, John Goodman had more screen time in the trailer than in the entire movie.

Brian Gee

dohtem

Secret Agent Man

hostsfile

Conversely, my favorite scenes in the 'Superman Returns' trailer were, in fact, in the film.

We should know by now that the trailers are typically not representative of the final film, as they are to entice us to pay to see them. Too often, the trailer is better than the movie (The Day After Tomorrow springs to mind, but I'm sure everyone has one or two they think back on).

doctor_cos

No kidding... that was the first movie I thought of when I read the title. Terabithia showed everything it had to offer in the advert.

invaderzim

man_in_plaid

The job of the trailer producers is to make you want to see the movie. Not all movies are good so in many cases that means deceiving you by constructing the best trailer possible from the available bits, often creating a better seeming movie than will actually be made. It is marketing, honesty just doesn't play into it.

Perhaps the trailer producers should make the movies instead of just making the ads?

Skeptic

jezziestalker

Brilliant.

Personally, I think the most shocking thing about the article is that David Pogue went to see National Treasure 2 at all. He tends to be a little brighter than that.

92BuickLeSabre

I read the book when i was younger (what?! there was a book?!) and it was advertised to me as a fantasy novel, not a coming of age novel involving death. Had i known the girl was going to die from page 1, i prob wouldnt have cried my eyes out on pg 250 (or whatever it was).

godawgs7

And I want to see the CBS Saturday Morning version of 'How to eat Fried Worms' I haven't seen it in 20 years, but I still like it better than the last movie they made.

Hanke

m4ximusprim3

smitty1123

1) Any concerned parent could have found out that the plot of the movie followed that of the book.

2) The death of major character is also part of the plot of the first Narnia movie.

3) A movie trailer should not give away the ending of a movie. Or would you have preferred that the trailer for Sixth Sense gave away the ending of that movie?

CyGuy

What? There isn't such a thing as a parenting license? Well, it seems we have a lot of work to do...

thnkwhatyouthnk

Now, I can see why a trailer would oversell a movie's appeal, but I'm not sure if anyone benefits by selling the movie as something in a completely different category. The audience is misled, while the people who might otherwise enjoy the film miss it.

spinachdip

B

freshyill

Buran

scoosdad

ju_ju_eyeball

But on the topic of trailers that misrepresent what the movie is about: does anyone remember all the fuss "Gremlins" caused? The previews showed the critters in their cute stage and made it seem like a holiday movie for kids. Which is was for about half the movie. Then the gremlins transform, and we also have a character telling a rather horrifying tale of how she found out there was no Santa Claus (her dad dressed up as Santa and tried to go down the chimney, and managed to kill himself). I was fairly young when the movie came out, but I still remember how angry parents were about that one.

CSR

warf0x0r

Chris Walters

Same with the music-- how many times have you heard the music from the Notre Dame football game sequence from "Rudy" in another movie's trailer? I heard it on TV just last week, can't recall which movie trailer was using it.

scoosdad

Buran

chili_dog

myotheralt

Chris Walters

[www.nypost.com]

jamesdenver

warf0x0r

The Fifth Element
Talladega Nights
Live Free or Die Hard

Thanks.

warf0x0r

B

Nelsormensch

HykCraft

To me, he's picking really small items to nitpick at. One of his arguments against the scene atop Mount Rushmore is that the camera angle is different? Last I checked, movie productions usually use more than one camera.

UpsetPanda