Behind the name change for 'Being Flynn'

What's in a name? When I heard the adaptation of Another Bull***t Night in Suck City was going to be released as Being Flynn, I assumed it was timidity on the part of the studio, Focus. In the blogosphere, I heard grumblings about the name change. Gawker called it the "most boring title ever," a right turn from Nick Flynn's curiosity-piquing appellation.

In fact, the name change appears to be done in a quest to appease the MPAA. Variety quotes director Paul Weitz as saying he "was mildly surprised that one cannot use asterisks to replace words...You can't even imply cursing if you want to have your title on a marquee or in an ad." He also worried, correctly in my opinion, that the name change would make people think he "was watering the adaptation down."

Name change or not, critics were mixed on the movie, giving it a narrow 51% positive rating. Audiences didn't see it--the drama made just an $11,000 per-screen average its opening weekend, when it played in four theatres. As FJI critc Doris Toumarkine attests, the topic is supremely depressing. The original title at least has a sense of humor about the whole thing, while Being Flynn indicates a sad sense of finality to it all.

At the very least, the name change dramatically reduced awareness of the movie. A friend in the midst of reading the book was surprised to hear they were making a movie, and that it was coming out in a couple of weeks. Even though I hadn't read Another Bull***t Night, I had heard of the book. There's no doubt in my mind that the name change cost Focus money. But how much? A good movie should be able to succeed despite a name, but Being Flynn wasn't good enough to rise above its neutered re-titling. If people liked the movie enough, word would have gotten out that the name had been changed. Focus should have come up with a similarly irreverent title: Another Messed-up Night in Suck City, or Being Flynn in Suck City (I hope "suck" wasn't also on the MPAA's hit list. Maybe Another Messed-up Night in Crap City?) I'm not saying either of these are great, but they're a lot better than Being Flynn.