I went to the movies this weekend an saw the much-lauded Sideways. The film itself was mildly amusing in a trite NPR-esque way, but what really struck me were the previews. Thankfully there were only three, but as a group they exhibited a stunning lack of originality.
Two of the three were of the “wacky ethnic mismatch comedy” variety. I don’t remember the names of either of them but one featured that guy from “That 70s Show” as the son-in-law of Bernie Mac. The other had Sandra Bullock (sp?) and some black actress I didn’t know as FBI agent partners.
See, the joke is that one person is black and the other is white. Get it?
This leads to all sort of amusing but innocuous ethnic misunderstandings. My theory is that white people go to see these things to assure ourselves that we’re “open-minded,” and black people go to make fun of white people. I guess I should look on the bright side and be thankful that at least we as a culture have moved beyond the 80s version of this plot: the “wacky species mismatch comedy”…you know, like “Turner and Hooch,” and that other movie that’s exactly the same movie but with the loathesome Jim Belushi instead of Tom Hanks.
Oh, yeah… The other preview was just a remake of “The Longest Yard.” Great idea.
I should have gone with my gut instinct and seen the Spongebob movie.
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