'Cowboys & Aliens' earns narrow win over 'Smurfs'

By Sarah Sluis

Cowboys & Aliens was hailed by many critics as the rare sci-fi/western genre mash-up that worked. Audiences turned out, but the $36 million fell short of the $40+ million the studio had hoped for. On the bright side, over 63% of audiences were over 30, a demographic that often sees movies weeks after their release. The $160+ million film will have to hold well at the box office to recoup its blockbuster budget.

I put the live-action/CG hybrid The Smurfs in the same category as Alvin and the Chipmunks and Yogi Bear. Critics called the movies stupid and terrible, but parents shrugged their shoulders and indulged their children in the lowbrow fun. More audiences than predicted turned out to see the blue cartoon characters in their very own movie, giving The Smurfs an estimated $35.6 million opening weekend, just under Cowboys & Aliens. Other kid-friendly titles in the top ten fell heavily (50-70%) due to the animated competition. Even Harry Potter "7B," as it's nicknamed on movie marquees, barely leveled its fall, diving another 53% to $21.9 million.

The intergenerational romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love landed in fifth place with $19.3 million. The variety of ages paid off: 71% of audiences were over the age of 25, which also bodes well for coming weeks. The opening is below Carell's summer pic from last year, Dinner for Schmucks, but far ahead of this summer's flop Larry Crowne, which also targeted an older audience.

This week was a busy one for specialty releases. Actor/writer/director Miranda July's The Future, which premiered on just one screen, had the highest screen average, $28,000. Sony Pictures Classics' crime drama The Guard followed, with a $20,000 average on four screens. A couple of big studios went with smaller releases for their films, and succeeded in drawing audiences. Lionsgate's Scarface-styled treatment of Uday Hussein, The Devil's Double, did admirably, using five screens to accumulate a $19,000 per-screen average. Screen Gems' Attack the Block, a would-be cult horror comedy, averaged $16,000 on eight screens. The two latter ones should expand in coming weeks and will be films to watch.

This Friday, the R-rated Freaky Friday-style comedy The Change-Up will release, along with Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

'Cowboys & Aliens' showdown against 'Smurfs' and 'Crazy, Stupid, Love'

By Sarah Sluis

With its irreverent, evocative title, Cowboys & Aliens (3,750 theatres) will attempt to lasso the top spot with an opening weekend around $40 million. In a movie both "highly derivative and refreshingly original," according to critic Rex Roberts, "the filmmakers...gleefully beg, borrow and steal from classic westerns and sci-fi adventures in every scene, roping together so many clichs and tropes you'll have a hard time discerning John Ford from George Lucas." Starring Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, the movie is showing strong interest among adult males, with females over 25 showing the second-highest interest. So many sci-fi/western films have fallen flat (Jonah Hex, Wild Wild West), but Cowboys & Aliens appears to finally get the genre mash-up right.

"Could it be? A summer comedy with actual sincerity, intelligence and heart?" According to critic Kevin Lally, Crazy, Stupid, Love (3,020 theatres) is the rare "ensemble movie where the pieces fit together in gratifying ways." The multigenerational cast should drive audiences young and old to the theatre, where the film will settle somewhere slightly under or well over the $20 million mark. Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon represent the 40 to 50-something crowd, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone cover young professionals in their 20s and 30s, and Analeigh Tipton and Jonah Bobo bring in the cute hopefulness of young love to the teen set--and Crazy, Stupid, Love is rated PG-13.

Family audiences will have yet another option with The Smurfs (3,395 theatres). The unoriginal plot is just a "cynical extension" of the "popular television series, cartoons and assorted products," according to critic Marsha McCreadie. Currently, the movie has just a 21% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes--no sign of success. Four movies in the top ten (Cars 2, Winnie the Pooh, Zookeeper, Harry Potter) are rated G or PG, giving the PG-rated blue pipsqueak movie lots of competition. Despite the abundance of kid-themed product, the live action/CG hybrid could still open at $20-30 million.

Attack the Block (8 theatres) could alternatively be titled Street Gangs & Aliens. The horror movie is "brisk, witty and crackling good fun, the kind of movie genre buffs live to discover and share with their friends before it's officially dubbed a 'cult classic,'" according to critic Maitland McDonagh. Uday Hussein gets his chance at film immortality in The Devil's Double (5 theatres), a "factually murky but riveting tale of a power-crazed Iraq regime," as described by Lally. He also approves of The Guard, a "a sly cop-buddy film set in picturesque Connemara in the west of Ireland" that features Brendan Gleeson in his best role in some time. Finally, Miranda July has her follow-up to Me and You and Everyone You Know with The Future (1 theatre), a slow, slightly surreal film that keeps the audience "dancing perilously close to the edge of terminal whimsy only to be yanked back by moments of stunning emotional truth," according to critic Ethan Alter.

On Monday, we'll see if audiences fell for a romantic comedy, animated blue dwarves or irresistible fusion of western and sci-fi genres.

Star on the rise: Emma Stone

By Sarah Sluis

Emma Stone has juicy roles in two films this summer (and a bit part in a third), and each one proves that she's a star on the rise. Yesterday I saw Crazy, Stupid, Love, which comes out on Friday. As a young law school grad looking for true love, Stone holds her own against an all-star cast that includes Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, and Ryan Gosling's abs. Stone has a Julia Roberts-level star magnetism that can only go up. In her other film, The Help, which comes out in a few weeks, Stone mixes comedy with more serious subject matter. Even in this different environment, her trademark mix of sarcasm, determination, and a self-effacing manner remain intact. So far, every role I've seen her in has been enriched by a current running through the personality that is oh-so-distinctly Stone.

Stone has mainly stayed in a sweet spot of comedy, with other roles in movies such as Easy A, Superbad, The House Bunny, and Zombieland. But now she's being tapped for Gangster Squad, a 1940s crime drama. The movie would re-team her not only with Gosling but also with her Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer. Unlike other stars in Hollywood with difficult reputations (Katherine Heigl, for example), Stone appears to create good working relationships. How else could it be so easy for her to be cast in her most serious film to date? Stone would play a woman torn between her love for the good cop (Gosling) and the gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn).

The surest sign of Stone's success is her casting as Spider-Man's love interest Gwen Stacey in The Amazing Spider-Man, which is coming out next summer. Appearing in an action tentpole is one checkmark on the path to being an A-list star. Other young ingnues like Bryce Dallas Howard and Kirsten Dunst have occupied that role in the past, when they too were stars on the rise. Stone's charming sarcasm has put her on my must-see list. Now let's hope she continues to find good roles that utilize her strengths--and no more superhero films after Spider-Man!

Trailer review: 'Crazy, Stupid, Love'

By Sarah Sluis

Steve Carell nailed the sexually innocent, romantically awkward character in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and it appears that he's returning to the same territory in Crazy, Stupid, Love. The romantic comedy has a well-known cast: Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei, Emma Stone, and Kevin Bacon play supporting roles. The trailer for Crazy, Stupid, Love just came out, and it exceeded my expectations.

First, Crazy, Stupid, Love appears to put story first, comedy second, which for me is more likely to result in appreciative laughter. Unfortunately, I know the movie puts story first because the trailer all but gives away the ending. Oh well. Carell plays a husband who just found out his high school sweetheart wife (Moore) cheated on him. He ends up meeting a player (Gosling), who helps him up his game enough to snag a cute woman (Tomei). But Carell still loves his wife! And Gosling just fell in love, not lust, with another woman (Stone)! It seems like the story will end with Carell back in the arms of his wife and Gosling learning from Carell how to commit. It's really too bad that the trailer had to give that story arc away--I think the idea of the player learning from the longtime husband is really sweet, and unexpected. In a lot of these movies, only the main character undergoes a transformation.

Of all the performances, I was most surprised by Gosling's take on a ladies' man. I know him mainly for his dramatic role in Blue Valentine, so seeing him as a slick, fast-talking guy was something of a surprise. The rest of the cast plays versions of their already established star personas. For the second year in a row, Moore is playing a likeable cheater (The Kids Are All Right). Stone again plays a smart girl skeptical of male intentions (Easy A), and Tomei is doing her sexually assertive thing.

The trailer cuts out some of the more suggestive punchlines, so I'm going to bet this movie is going for a PG-13 vibe, especially because the movie also includes teen romance, Carell and Moore's son's lusting after his babysitter. Back in December, Warner Bros. moved the comedy from April 22 to July 29, the surest sign that this romantic comedy can stand up to the heat of summer.