Last week I wrote something for Film.com about “Duck Soup,” the loony Marx Brothers movie from 1933. In discussing the influence the Marxes had on modern comedy, I mentioned the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker team that made “Airplane!,” “Naked Gun,” and “Top Secret,” among other fine spoofs. To my great delight, David Zucker read the column and sent me an e-mail. With his permission, I reprint it here. Fans of comedy may find it instructive.

Eric,

I enjoyed reading your article on the Marx Bros.’ “Duck Soup.” I was particularly intrigued by the reasons you listed for the movie’s failure at the box office.  But I can tell you from personal experience the most important reason:

I first saw “Duck Soup” in 1967 in a packed lecture hall at the University of Wisconsin where I was majoring in film. I loved it, the audience howled, but the Marxes and their writers made a critical mistake when they assumed a movie packed with great jokes would automatically gain box office success.  What the movie lacked was a story grounded in reality, with real characters for the audience to root for.

After it flopped, Irving Thalberg told Chico Marx during a card game one night that he and his brothers could have twice the success with half the jokes. Bringing the brothers to MGM, Thalberg suggested a real ballet setting, and added Allen Jones and Kitty Carlisle to the mix — main characters that the audience could care about. “A Night at the Opera” opened to the Marxes biggest grosses ever.  The ZAZ team went through the same process, (although in reverse) basing our “Airplane!” script on an Arthur Haley B movie, “Zero Hour.”  Audiences actually cared about Bob Hays and Julie Haggerty, so the movie was quite satisfying in the last five minutes when Ted Striker actually lands the plane and wins the love of Elaine Dickinson.

Taking the wrong lessons from the success of “Airplane!” we then created “Top Secret!”, on the assumption that, like Duck soup, if we just filled 85 minutes with great jokes, we would have another big hit.  We were wrong.  Many people consider “Top Secret!” to be as good or better a movie than “Airplane!” but I know different. It was 85 minutes of jokes without a real plot, character, or situations.  After it flopped at the box office, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg took us in (without the card game) to Disney to direct “Ruthless People,” a movie ABOUT plot and character.  We learned the lesson, had another big hit, and subsequently applied it to all of our films after that.

While following the rule never guaranteed success, ignoring it certainly guaranteed failure.

David Zucker

A reader named Dan sent me a nice e-mail that reads as follows:

Just wanted to say that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your reviews over the years and to keep it up!  But I have a quick question…. what movies that are universally regarded as classics do you feel are overrated??

Ooh, that’s a fun question! I don’t like to say “overrated,” though. That term implies a certain arrogance: “The people who liked this film over-praised it, whereas I am praising it exactly the right amount.” Just because a lot of people loved something and you didn’t doesn’t mean they’re all wrong or deluded or something. It just means you have different opinions.

But I know what you mean. You mean movies that are supposed to be great that I, personally, didn’t care for. I can think of a few.

“2001: A Space Odyssey” does very little for me. It’s a technical marvel in many ways, especially considering when it was made, and I like its ideas. But the way it’s dragged out feels interminable to me.

Continue reading…

A couple of readers recently posted “WALL-E”-related questions that warrant attention…

I don’t know much about the Oscars, but are animated films eligible for best picture? (I’m thinking of “Wall-E” here obviously).

Yes, any type of film is eligible for Best Picture, including types for which there is also a special category, i.e., animated films, documentaries, and foreign films. Only one cartoon, “Beauty and the Beast,” has ever been nominated, though, and the addition in 2001 of the Best Animated Feature category kind of ghettoizes cartoons, in my opinion. Academy voters figure, “Oh, we don’t have to bother considering the animated films for the top honors, because they have their own special category over here.”

But the fact is, animated films are often among the very best movies of any kind in a given year, and there’s already talk that “WALL-E” might break through the barriers and get a Best Picture nomination. At any rate, it’ll definitely win the Best Animated Film category.

Can it be nominated in both categories? Yes.

Continue reading…

(This post contains minor “WALL-E” spoilers.)

Many of you saw “WALL-E” over the weekend, and no doubt some of you noticed biblical themes in it. You can’t name a main character “Eve” without invoking the Garden of Eden, of course; nobody could miss that. But what about all the humans living on a ship and waiting for an envoy to return with a plant as proof that it was safe to go home? Did that remind anyone of Noah’s Ark and the dove?

In my review, I mentioned that there were biblical allusions along with the cinematic references like “2001: A Space Odyssey” and Buster Keaton. (I didn’t mention it, but writer/director Andrew Stanton is a Christian, and he discusses how that influences his work in this interview.) My review prompted a Methodist minister to write to me:

I have read 7 reviews so far all by the “top” critics, and while they are all excellent writers, they all, until you, have missed the biblical narratives so skillfully woven into the story. Thanks for having the guts to mention it.

Continue reading…

Got a lovely e-mail from someone named Paul who enjoyed “Live Free or Die Hard,” as well as my review of it. He added this:

But I don’t know who all these people are who think the title is dumb — I think it kicks [butt]. I can just see the guys in Iraq painting that slogan on their tanks.

I thanked Paul for his kind words about my review, and said I guess the title seems dumb because … well, what does it MEAN? “Live Free or Die Hard.” Sure, it sounds cool, but what does it actually mean?

He responded:

I guess I took it as “Live Free or Die Hard (trying to be free).”

Or maybe “(Let us) Live Free (you terrorists, or you’re going to) Die Hard.”

Um…..yeah, I guess it’s dumb.

I applaud Paul’s efforts to try to make sense of the title.

Continue reading…

Not me.

The latest development in dumb people e-mailing me is People Who Think I am a Famous Eric. I told you a few weeks ago about the person who thought I was Eric Bana. And now we have two more instances of this phenomenon, bringing the total to three, which makes it a bona fide trend!

First came this e-mail, apparently addressed to Erik Per Sullivan, the kid who played Dewey on “Malcolm in the Middle.”

The subject line: “Eric please write back.” The e-mail:

Hi! Well I have some questions. Do u really like asian and Japanese food? And are u really getting reddy 2 turn 16? Well hey do u ever meet people that u like 2 keep in contact with on the computer? What do u like 2 do for fun when u have time off? Sorry if im asking 2 much. well if u dont write back I understand. Well happy erly B-day.
I have just turned 16 to.
And I am Quarter Japanese. But I dont look it, but my sister does.

Continue reading…

A devoted reader named Sarah e-mailed me to ask the following.

I have a movie business-related question. Midnight showings of popular movies have been happening for years, but I thought it was very interesting that Pirates 3 started its showings as early as 8 p.m. on Thursday. I’d never seen a movie open like that before, so I suppose my question is: What is the reasoning behind that? Is it to purposely inflate the movie’s box office earnings and break records for opening day gross? Is it to create even more buzz for the film? (Not like Pirates really needs it, in my opinion.) I mean, it seems like once you start giving special showings of the movie at 8 o’clock, why not move the time back even further to 6 o’clock or whatever? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of having a definitive release date at all?

You ask excellent questions, Sarah, and that kind of common-sense approach is why you could never make it in Hollywood.

You’re right that midnight “sneak previews” for big releases have been common enough for years. Ten o’clock screenings are not unheard of, either; I remember seeing “Batman Returns” that way in Los Angeles all the way back in 1992.

But if a film opens on Friday, May 25, yet has screenings (they don’t even bother calling them “sneak previews” anymore) as early as 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 24, then doesn’t that mean May 24 is the real opening date?

Continue reading…

A few months ago, I reported that a student at Brigham Young University had written a letter to the editor of the school paper in which he swiped a joke of mine that I’d used in a “Snide Remarks” column in that very paper several years earlier. In the course of telling you about this, I also quoted (and made fun of) a letter that someone had written in response to the first guy’s letter, offended by some other, non-stolen joke he had made.

Well, the writer of the second letter has written to tell me this:

I googled my name for fun and was surprised to see that I’ve become “famous” for my “angry letter” in the Daily Universe. I just wanted you to know that Jon Harmon [the guy who wrote the first letter] happens to be my roommate and he wrote his letter so he could get out of a final…and I wrote mine as a joke to see if it would get published…I guess I suceeded in my endevor to appear as a “typical angry BYU student.” Just thought you might want to know.

Continue reading…

I got this strange e-mail:

Hi Eric,

My best friend is really in love with you when she heard about your car crash she was sad then happy that god saved you .SHE HAS ALL YOUR PICTURES!!!! and thinks your wife(or ex) was really lucky. Please email me saying hi or watever because I want to show her the emal as a birthday present because her birthday is in 2 days.

Thank You,
Zeena

At first I thought this was merely an instance of someone seeing a celebrity mentioned on this site and mistakenly (stupidly) believing the site to be affiliated with that person. But then I noticed: She addresses the e-mail “Dear Eric.” So the celebrity Zeena thinks I am is someone with the same first name as me.

And now I’m dying to know: Who did she think I was? Which celebrity Eric has recently suffered a car accident? So I Googled a few of the famous Erics I could think of off the top of my head, along with the words “car accident,” and discovered that Eric Bana crashed a car during a race a few weeks ago. Mystery solved. Except for the mystery of why Zeena thought EricDSnider.com was the website for Eric Bana.

I got an amusing e-mail from someone regarding my review of the film “Children on Their Birthdays.” You almost certainly have never heard of this film. I’d forgotten about it. There was a press screening for it in the summer of 2002, and it was supposed to be released soon thereafter. Then it got pushed back and pushed back, and it was finally released on Oct. 18, 2002, but only in a handful of theaters. I don’t think it ever even played in Utah, where I lived at the time and where they had the press screening for us.

Anyway, I guess it’s on video now or something, because a woman named Loretta watched it, loved it, and took issue with my review. Her e-mail doesn’t qualify as an Angry Letter, but it is enjoyable for other reasons:

Continue reading…