Bad-Buzz Watch: M. Night Shyamalan Defaced; Deepak Chopra Stumps for 'Love Guru'
With the exception of Iron Man, the quality of the '08 summer movie vintage has been more than a little underwhelming. While we await salvation (we hope) in the form of July entries The Dark Knight and Tropic Thunder, a glance at the latest downbeat buzz on a few other key offerings has us thinking it might be a long June.
· The Happening: We don't know how much more there is to say about Manoj's Folly, but the accompanying photo suggests the troubled film's marketing campaign may have its own climactic twist ending in mind. Follow the jump for a larger version and the rest of our glimpse at cinema's June swoon.
· The Love Guru: Still no word yet on whether irritable Hindu spiritual leader Rajan Zed had his studio-promised look at Mike Myers' bomb-to-be, but go-to Hindi heartwarmer (and supposed Love Guru influence) Deepak Chopra got loose with both an essay in Guru's defense and a word of support for Myers:
"He said, 'Listen, it's kind of a satire. It's a lampoon,'" Chopra said, recalling Myers' words. "He said on the surface it's like that, but on a deeper level, it's a tribute."
Myers "has the most profound understanding of Eastern wisdom, traditions and spirituality," Chopra said. "In the end, the movie is about self-esteem and love. It is about, in fact, love being the ultimate truth. He goes about it in a very silly, humorous way, but that's his style."
What? It's a comedy? Huh. We'll be damned — literally.
· Get Smart: We're getting a bad feeling about the movie for which we nurtured some of our highest summer hopes. First, there was that excruciating Carell/Rock/Hathaway interlude Sunday at the MTV Movie Awards, during which an audience member was responsible for the funniest joke:
A pair of sources also sent word in recent days that a small press screening last week yielded generally scalding reaction. Warner Bros. , meanwhile, is offering the minimum one screening on each coast the week of its June 20 release — opposite The Love Guru. We might make alternate plans that weekend; maybe the Dark Knight trailer? Like, 40 times in a row?