Life’s full of disappointments.
Just ask three of the most influential directors to make their names in the 1990s: Richard Linklater, M. Night Shyamalan and Kevin Smith. They are now trying to rebound from critical and/or commercial stinkers with new films in or about to hit theaters.
Richard Linklater
Highest Grossing Film: School of Rock ($81.2 million)
Lowest Grossing Film: Tape ($490,475)
Last Offering: The Bad News Bears ($32.8 million)
Next: A Scanner Darkly (now in limited release); Fast Food Nation (Oct. 20)
The Bottom Line: Sure, he’s an art-house darling thanks to Slacker and the Before Sunrise series, but this Texan doesn’t balk at going Hollywood on occasion. Not that he trusts studio executives. “They don’t care about the movie, they don’t get the movie, they’re going to screw up the release anyway,” Linklater tells Premiere. Case in point: the raucous Dazed and Confused, which Universal regrettably failed to recognize as the Me Decade’s American Graffiti. Still, Linklater turned Paramount’s School of Rock into a comedy that was suitably for all ages (unlike his ill-advised Bad News Bears remake). Oddly, School of Rock represents Linklater‘s finest hour since Dazed and Confused. Maybe it’s because his low-budget dramas—including Suburbia and Tape—tend to be tedious and verbose character studies, whereas his studio films are brisk and accessible. A Scanner Darkly’s also too gabby for its own good. But Linklater‘s decision to animate live-action footage via interpolated rotoscoping, a process he first used with Waking Life, allows this Philip K. Dick adaptation to crackle with nervous energy. Fingers crossed, Fast Food Nation is truly “crisp, effective,” as Entertainment Weekly calls his fictional take on author Eric Schlosser’s dissection of dietary habits. Perhaps this means Linklater‘s finally understands that his highly personal endeavors can’t always be all talk and no action.
M. Night Shyamalan
Highest Grossing Film: The Sixth Sense ($293.5 million)
Lowest Grossing Film: Wide Awake ($282,175)
Last Offering: The Village ($114.1 million)
Next: Lady in the Water (July 21)
The Bottom Line: Shyamalan almost—but not quite—pulled the wool over our eyes with The Village. All smoke and mirrors, The Village faded fast once lousy word of mouth spread. Shyamalan recouped Disney’s $60 million investment, but The Village was definitely a financial letdown after Signs ($227.9 million). Unfortunately, the chatter about Lady in the Water isn’t whether this fairy tale marks a return to form for an over-praised director out of ideas. Instead, the focus is on Michael Bamberger’s The Man Who Heard Voices, which details how the film cost Shyamalan his profitable relationship with Disney. The book reportedly depicts Mouse House executives as Lady in the Water nonbelievers and Shyamalan as angry, crestfallen and paranoid. Little wonder Shyamalan severed ties with Disney and ran to Warner Bros. Time will tell whether the book is an account of a disaster in the making à la The Devil’s Candy. But perhaps a flop would do the world of good for Shyamalan, especially if Lady in the Water offers the same creepy chills and requisite twist ending we expect from him. Rejection—first by his onetime patrons, and possibly his audience—might finally jolt Shyamalan into doing something totally unexpected and allow him to prove that he isn’t a one-trick pony.
Kevin Smith
Highest Grossing Film: Dogma ($30.6 million)
Lowest Grossing Film: Mallrats ($2.1 million)
Last Offering:Jersey Girl($25.2 million)
Next: Clerks II (July 21)
The Bottom Line: Is a belated Clerks sequel an attempt to bend fences with fans alienated by Smith’s uncharacteristically mature and overly sentimental Jersey Girl? Not according to Brian O’ Halloran (Clerks‘ Dante Hick). Smith “might have felt nostalgic” for bygone days after Jersey Girl fell victim to the ill-fated Bennifer romance, he tells Hollywood.com. “We had also just finishing doing [dialogue for a deleted scene for] the 10-year anniversary DVD edition of Clerks…. I think Kevin was reminiscing about a time when the film was about the film, the characters were about the characters, and the dialogue really flowed again. And I guess these were the characters he wanted to attempt to do it with.” A cynic might accuse Smith of resting on his laurels, but that would discount his deep affection for Jay and Silent Bob. Still, it would be nice if Smith did more without those lovable lugs in tow. Fletch would have been a nice start, but he’s apparently no longer attached to revive the series per his View Askew Web site. And The Green Hornet would have been a mistake considering Smith’s limitations as a director (Dogma begged for the visual flair of a Terry Gilliam). Still, a sequel to his hysterical portrait of Generation X listlessness is a risk. If Smith‘s comes close to recapturing Clerks’ wit, wisdom and bawdiness, then he’s back in our good graces. If not, well, he’ll be sure to hear a lot of noise, noise, noise from disgruntled shoppers.
