Happy Indie-Pendence Day!
Funny Games (3/14/08)
Box Office (or Lack Thereof): $1.2M
Big Star(s), Little Movie? Yes, as a matter of fact! Naomi Watts, a veritable A-lister, has starred in such anti-indies as the Ring movies and King Kong. To her credit, however, she’s mixed her blockbusters in with low-budget fare like Mulholland Drive, 21 Grams and We Don't Live Here Anymore.
Big-Studio Deal Breaker: Violence, plain and simple. If a movie shows cartoonish blood spatter, Hollywood’s all for it; if there’s gore, show more! But Funny Games is genuinely sadistic in its purposefully gratuitous torture scenes that dare you to not walk out. If you stay, it’s your victory--but yeah, the Sumner Redstone set isn't usually too keen on movies that test audiences’ tolerance level.
