Box Office Outlook: Mummy, Did You Vote?

By Katey Rich

Well, summer was fun for a while there, but it looks like the dog days of August are finally setting in. After a series of record-breaking weekends and the phenomenal success of The Dark Knight, now we have a sequel in a trilogy no one really asked for and a family drama about, of all things, voting. August doesn't seem likely to be a complete wasteland-- there are two high-profile comedies coming out in the next few weeks-- but today the outlook is grim, grim, grim. And this is coming from someone who gave one of the few positive reviews of the latest Mummy movie. Check out what everyone else had to say, and don't make fun of me for my low standards in August entertainment. It's been a long summer.

THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR. Opening in 3,759 theatres. Brendan Fraser returns for the third installment of the Mummy franchise that began nine years ago, but he passes off much of the heavy lifting to Luke Ford, who plays Fraser's character Rick's son, who gets into nearly as much trouble with the undead as his dad does. Rick and Evelyn (Maria Bello) join Alex in China, where the trio accidentally awake the mummy of an ancient Emperor (Jet Li), who vows to raise his army, achieve immortality, and rule the world forever. Michelle Yeoh also stars as an immortal witch who helps the intrepid adventurers on their journey to stop the Emperor. The movie is directed by Rob Cohen (Fast and the Furious), replacing Stephen Sommers.

I suppose I should be ashamed that I'm among so few critics who actually liked this movie, but hey, fun is fun. "A movie this affable, entertaining and harmless is ruined by questioning its logic or scoffing at the mystic hogwash that sets its events into motion," I wrote in defense of my blind enjoyment. Luckily I have Roger Ebert on my side too: "It was just plain dumb fun, is why. It is absurd and preposterous, and proud of it." Unfortunately the rest of the critical mass wasn't in such a generous mood. The Chicago Tribune calls it simply "bleh," and the Washington Post cries, "Oh, no, not again." And the San Francisco Chronicle has some career advice for Fraser: "Even doing dinner theater would be more rewarding than this."

SWING VOTE. Opening in 2,213 theatres. Kevin Costner stars in and produced this movie about Bud, a blue-collar man who doesn't care about anything, not even his young daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll), until she votes for him in the Presidential election and suddenly his is the only vote that matters. The Presidential candidates (Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper) descend upon Bud's small town to try to convince him to cast his single vote in their favor. In the meantime the media is on Bud's tail too, and one scrupulous local reporter (Paula Patton) is the only one Bud and Molly trust. The movie delves into political satire and family drama, and remarkably enough, is entirely bipartisan the entire way through. More than we can say for our so-called moderate Presidential candidates in real life! OK, I promise that's the last political remark you'll ever read here.

Many critics are charmed by a movie I myself found fairly lacking. The New York Times calls it "one of the most surprising, politically suggestive movies to come out of Hollywood this year," and Newsday deems it "a clever summer comedy that offers more than easy laughs." Carrie Rickey at The Philadelphia Inquirer falls for the leading man, writing, "Using both his comic and dramatic chops, Costner guzzles the material with a looped sincerity. It's his best performance in years." At Entertainment Weekly, on the other hand, Lisa Schwarzbaum writes, "The movie's queasy garble of soft-core satire and rote idealism, as well as its uninspired reworking of old ruts in political comedy, becomes wearing." And The Hollywood Reporter complains that it "paints a surprisingly sour portrait of nearly all its characters, so much so that even the final-reel redemption rings hollow and forced."