The Proposal is a success?

I continue to be puzzled by The Proposal's box office success this summer. Box Office Mojo tells me the romcom is currently sitting on $145 million domestically! That's the 13th highest grossing movie this year, sitting right between Paul Blart: Mall Cop at #12 with $146m and Liam Neeson's Taken at #14 with $145m (but a few thousand less than The Proposal). Since the film is still in theaters it's more than likely the movie will surpass Mall Cop.

I saw the movie weeks ago, didn't have time to write/post a review and now I barely remember the movie. I mean, I liked the movie, I'm just not sure what I liked about it. Well, besides Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock.

Or maybe that's just it. People really like Reynolds and Bullock. According to Box Office Mojo, The Proposal's opening weekend gross of $33 million is Bullock's highest opening ever. While Bullock is one of America's sweethearts and most of her movies end up doing pretty well or at least decent, her openings are not that strong. Her previous career best opening is 2007's Premonition with $17m. It's been a while since Bullock starred in a romcom like The Proposal. Romance The Lake House was released in 2006 and comedy Miss Congeniality 2 was released in 2005! Her last true romantic comedy was 2002's Two Weeks Notice with Hugh Grant! Were people suffering from Bullock withdrawal and en masse flocked to the theater when The Proposal was released?

Then there's Reynolds, who has turned into quite the capable leading man since his days on Two Guys, a Girl, & a Pizzaplace. People generally like him and his supporting role in Wolverine was well received. Excluding Wolverine (which clearly wasn't about him), Reynold's career best is also The Proposal. His previous highest opening was for 2005's The Amityville Horror, which grossed $23.5 million. Reynolds seems to be one of those actors that appeals to both females and males. I never hear guys say they like that Orlando Bloom guy. But Reynolds has appeared in a lot of guy flicks, such as Van Wilder, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Blade: Trinity and the aforementioned Wolverine. Has his casting helped The Proposal? Would guys rather take their girlfriends to a romcom starring Ryan Reynolds than, say, Matthew McConaughey?

Take McConaughey's latest romcom, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (awful title, btw). The movie opened only a few weeks earlier than The Proposal. It grossed $15 million in its opening weekend and ended up grossing $55 million domestically. To be fair to McConaughey, his previous three romcoms (Fool's Gold, Failure to Launch, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) all grossed between $20-$25 million in their opening weekends. Nothing to be ashamed about at all!

So what I really have been wondering lately is why is The Proposal a big hit and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past came and went without much notice? I wasn't too kind to both movies when I reviewed their trailers, but I gave kudos to GOGP for being less generic than The Proposal. Though it seems pretty obvious how both will play out, yes? I didn't want to see either on the big screen, but ended up seeing The Proposal just because a friend wanted to go see it. She thought it looked funny.

Maybe The Proposal is just the better movie. Maybe people were tired of McConaughey's romcoms and were waiting for Bullock's instead. Maybe Ghosts of Girlfriends Past just isn't an appealing title. Who knows?

Bullock & Cooper in All About Steve

I'm hoping to figure at least part of this out when Bullock's next romcom, All About Steve is released on September 4. She plays an eccentric crossword puzzler who think CCN cameraman Steve (sexy Bradley Cooper) is her true love and follows him around the country. I've seen the trailer and the movie looks awful. But both Bullock and Cooper are at career highs at the moment so I expect the movie to do well despite its awfulness. If so, it seems it doesn't really matter how awful or generic a romcom is, as long as you have two appealing leads, the movie will do well at the box office. To be continued...

I want this poster #1

via IMP Awards

Megan Fox looks gorgeous as usual (not a fan of the shoes though). I like the tagline and the 'hell yes' on the chalkboard. A simple, but attractive poster. Why is it not on my wall?

If you're not watching Harper's Island...

It really is your loss. How did a show that started out so unbelievably campy, turn out so good? First, I have to take back everything I have previously said about Adam Campbell (Cal). Sure he brought the camp in the early eps, but his performance in last night's episode "Splash" (#1.11) was wonderful. Throughout the course of the season Cal became one of my favorite characters. Something I seriously didn't expect would happen after watching the first five eps.

Some thoughts after rewatching "Splash" today:

- Why didn't Wakefield kill Abby when he had the chance at the beginning of the ep?
- In the car, Sully mentions to Cal that Cal passed out before he could give him any instructions to get the bullet out and close the wound. Later, Sully tells Danny Cal stayed awake while he dug a bullet from his shoulder.
- Just because the Sheriff said he's Abby's father, well that doesn't mean it's biologically true.
- Why didn't Trish help Shane when Wakefield was attacking him with his big ass Jason Voorhees machete? Girl had a shotgun, Shane had a knife. Goodbye Ben Cotton, you were great!
- A killer is on the loose. Someone rings the church bells. Why do you automatically think it must be one of your friends?
- Why didn't Shea say 'I love you' back to Trish?
- Why did Wakefield capture Chloe instead of killing her?
- "I almost died for a woman like you," said Wakefield to Chloe. I choose to interpret that as someone tried to kill him for his relationship with Abby's mom.
- The Sully/Danny scene at the Candlewick was suspicious to me. I actually thought nice guy Danny would shoot Sully.
- Note to Danny: a killer is behind the door. Don't go looking through the hole.
- Matt Barr also gave a wonderful performance in this episode. I've really grown to like him as an actor and I like Sully as well. Don't die Sully!
- Why did Henry insist Cal should go find Chloe on his own while Abby and Henry went after Wakefield?
- Henry misses his shot at Wakefield, while we know from an early ep that he has a good aim.
- After Cal proposed to Chloe, I knew they were doomed. Their deaths were the most emotional and tragic for me so far. Cameron Richardson brought her A-game in this ep. Kudos.
- Jimmy is so a red-herring. That last scene in the car? Maybe Jimmy is suspicious of Trish?

I can't believe we have to wait two weeks for the finale. I still have no clue who the other killer is. I originally pointed at Henry here. My theory still holds up. As for survivors, I really want Sully to survive and Danny as well. I don't care for Shea, Madison or Abby. Please kill them, killers. I hope Trish is not the other killer and that she gets to have her revenge by killing at least one of the killers. I see Jimmy sacrificing himself for Abby (ugh! blugh! aarghh!) and if Henry turns out to be the other killer, he will die. So uhmm yeah, please don't die Sully and Danny.

Is it July 11 yet?

Dear Scarlett Johansson,

You are one of my favorite actresses. But sometimes I really hate you.

Young Hollywood Awards

The Young Hollywood Awards. I used to kinda like 'em. But now? They're a joke right? An award show has no credibility to me if they change the categories every year. It's like they pick people they want to give an award to and then make up an category. It actually pains me to say this, because I LOVE Young Hollywood. But these awards make no sense.

Take a look at the categories in 2008 and 2009. I took these from the official site. I would list the previous years as well, but the official site doesn't even have them up. Huh?

2008
Standout Performance Male (Jonathan Tucker)
Standout Performance Female (Emmanuelle Chriqui)
Exciting New Face Female (Emma Stone)
Exciting New Face Male (Alex Frost)
One to Watch Male (Thomas Dekker, Brady Corbet)
One to Watch Female (Summer Bishil, Brittany Robertson)
Breakthrough Performance Male (Michael Angarano)
Breakthrough Performance Female (Amber Heard)
Breakthrough TV Performance (Vincent Kartheiser)
Hottest Coolest Young Veteran (Abigail Breslin)
Young Hollywood Role Model (Donald Sutherland)
Exciting New Vocalist (Taylor Swift)
Exciting Music Crossover (Jesse McCartney)
Hottest New Film Maker (Matt Reeves)
Hottest New Scene Stealer (Adam G. Sevani)
Hottest New Picasso (Kat von D.)
Newest Red Carpet Correspondent (Lilly Collins)
Crest Whitestrips Onscreen Smile(!?) (Brittany Snow)

2009
YH Superstar of Tomorrow (Annalynne McCord)
YH Action Star Female (Jamie Chung)
YH Action Star Male (Columbus Short)
YH Crossover (Bar Refaeli)
YH Superstar (Evan Rachel Wood)
YH Breakthrough Male (Ed Westwick)
YH Breakthrough Female (Rumer Willis)
YH Artist of the Year (Adam Lambert)
YH Green (Q'Orianka Kilcher)
YH Director (Catherine Hardwicke)
YH Athlete (Shawn Johnson)
YH Comedienne (Ari Graynor)

What happened to the exciting new faces?! The ones to watch?! The standout performances?! And where the hell did the YH Green award come from? How come last year we had Exciting New Vocalist and this year we have Artist of the Year? I'm so confused! And the same goes for the MTV Movie Awards with their ever changing categories. Boy, has that show lost its magic.

Adding categories? Sure, okay. But not too many in one year. And don't change all the existing ones. My tip to you award show people. You're welcome.

Bradley Cooper for the Win!

Haven't been around much. Whoops! I haven't posted about Bradley Cooper in about 3 weeks. What is wrong with me?! Anyhow, that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about posting about him. I mean, The Hangover topped the box office this weekend, which is AMAZING! At first, when the estimates were released, I was bummed. Bummed as in 'Damn you Up!'. But then I saw the actuals on Monday and well, that was just the best part of my day. Which actually says more about my crappy day, but hey. Nearly $45 million for an R-rated comedy. That is serious business kids. Plus, the movie has good reviews. The movie is even fresh on Rotten Tomatoes (77%). Good word of mouth will make sure this movie has legs and make it one of the most profitable films of the summer! It's $35 million production budget has already been earned back in one weekend!

I will finally check the movie out this upcoming Tuesday. Can't wait!

Also, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed Coop is in talks to play Faceman in The A-Team. Good lord, Fox, cast him already!

Rewatching Scream 3

There are parts in Scream 3 that make me want to slap Ehren Kruger. Why is it so cheesy?