Preview: Bruges, Fools and Notties

By Connect Mason Reporter Matthew Todd

A crowded six high-profile films open February 8. All ostensibly with potential and only two may actually be big sellers.

But first...

Last Week's Recap

I hate to admit how much I failed miserably at last week's box office predictions when Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus came in #1 with a whopping $31.1 million. (Although why did it not surprise me?). The Eye, though, grossed between my predictions of $11-14 million with $12.4 million, while Over Her Dead Body tanked with $4.0 million, and Strange Wilderness, thankfully, flopped with a humiliating $3.0 million debut. Two out of three ain’t bad. Let’s see how on-target my predictions are this week.

Now on to this week's lineup.

Meet the Action-Romantic-Comedy Flick

First off, Fool's Gold (Warner Bros., PG-13) reunites How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days stars Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. As a newly-divorced couple, Ben (McConaughey) is obsessed with finding the legendary 18th century Queen’s Dowry, 40 chests of exotic treasure sunken in 1715. With the help of ex-wife Tess (Hudson), Ben hopes to find the treasure and possibly rekindle his romance with Tess. Not long into the expedition, Ben discovers others are after the treasure as well.

The previews denote an action-romantic-comedy for both men and women. Striving for No. 1 like 10 Days, the foretaste actually contains very entertaining and very funny moments, while other scenes feel as if they’re trying to cross 10 Days with National Treasure. Neither of which seem all that appealing.

Mrs. Proper, Please Meet the Family

Then there's Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Universal, PG-13), a clumsy screwball comedy featuring none other than Martin Lawrence. He’s a celebrity with a glamorous prim and proper wife (who even has a prim and proper dog). But after nine years of being away from the family, he comes to realize his family is overly awkward and embarrassing to be around.

Judging by the previews, the ineptitude of Lawrence’s weird family only makes it seem like another version of Meet the Parents. Implying a vast array of idiotic dysfunctional family jokes, monotonous sex jokes and so on, this is easily a film I’ll stay away from. The previews were enough for me. 1hr and 40min? Torture.

When In Doubt, Go Indie

Then there's the art-house foreign pick of the week, The Band's Visit (Sony Pictures Classics, PG-13), about an Egyptian Police band left stranded in an Israeli airport while making new friendships along the way.

A Cannes Film Festival selection, this is one that feels very distinctive, poetic and artfully done (although it would probably bore anyone with little endurance for reality or humanness). A presumably beautiful narrative with appealing performances and amiable script, there’s no doubt in my mind Visit will be a quality film and a winner.

The Nottie

Then there’s The Hottie and the Nottie (Regent, PG-13), starring (gulp), Paris Hilton. A typical geek-falls-in-love-with-hot-girl comedy, Hilton is Joel David Moore’s dream girl, but she vows not to date anyone until her ugly best friend (Christine Lakin) finds love.

So where’s the freshness here? Paris Hilton’s smoking body seems to be all the hope the studio has of selling this stinker. Next to Roscoe Jenkins, this is hardly worth my time even as a DVD rental.

In Bruges Hit/Miss

In Bruges (Focus Features, R), however, seems like the most unorthodox choice for the mainstream (reminiscent of such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch minus Guy Ritchie).

The alluring cast, featuring handsome stars Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes, is sure to pull in their avid fans. Farrell plays a hit man ordered by his London boss (Fiennes) to cool off in the tourist-friendly town. Over time, Farrell and a fellow hit man (Brendan Gleeson) find themselves having strange encounters with tourists, prostitutes, an American dwarf actor shooting a film and so on.

The film’s dark humor could attract those looking to escape the shoddier fare polluting this weekend’s box office, but the release may be limited. Enticing enough, but quality-wise: also apparently hit or miss.

Comedy Tour for the Win

Finally, anyone hungering for a simpler stand-up show can easily turn to coarse yet mirthful Vince Vaughin's Wild West Comedy Show (Picturehouse, R).

A 30-day, 30-night tour from “Hollywood to Heartland,” the comics show great potential. I’d definitely fritter my theatrical dollars to watch this flick. Vince Vaughn featuring bankable stand-ups? No contest here.

Enter the Money Makers

So, as always the challenge is for me to predict this weekend’s money-makers. Vince Vaughn, In Bruges and The Band's Visit will roll out into more limited venues; therefore it’s between Fool's Gold, Roscoe Jenkins, and Nottie. For me, Nottie will undoubtedly flop, unless Hilton carries more fan weight than she shows. So it’ll be a race between Gold and Jenkins.

Hudson and McConaughey have worked box office magic before, so it won’t surprise me if the film sees “gold,” grossing $23-28 million its first weekend out. And for the African-American communities that drove Tyler Perry’s films into box office gold as well, I anticipate JENKINS to maybe pull in $16-21 million.