Box Office Guru Wrapup: Identity Thief Scores Big in Debut

JoBlo did a "Hot or Not" piece on McCarthy a week or so ago. Lets just say the comments were not kind to the poor, well fed woman.

But, to play devils advocate, we have been making fun of fat, male comedians for years. I don't think Farley, Candy, or even a young Jonah Hill could have made it as far as they did without using their weight to make a joke. I don't recall a critic outright calling them cows, but very often their appeal rivals "look at the fat man, he so funny cause he fat." Put your big girl pants on McCarthy (no pun) cause you're in the big leagues now and anything goes. Funny thing is she looks like, what, 60% of the country?

Feb 10 - 06:14 PM

Big Brother

I think the tone was different ID, I don't recall anyone being this critical of any of those guys you mentioned. No one called John Belushi a fat ass or implied that his weight was a negative to his career. It all comes down to laughing with someone or laughing at their expense. I don't think it would have been an issue to refer to Melissa in the terms used for say Chris Farley. They both know they're large and aren't pretending they're not, they're using it to their advantage. What Reed did was crossing a line for me specifically because there hasn't been the commonality between men and women on this issue. I don't recall their being that many female John Belushi's or John Candy's. Maybe Delta Burke and Kristie Alley, but they started out as sex symbols.

Feb 10 - 07:56 PM

Janson Jinnistan

Nell Carter, and I always thought Edie McClurg was hilarious.

Feb 10 - 08:27 PM

@BB. I'm not trying to justify what RR said in his review. They were low blows, for sure. But fat in Hollywood gets a bad angle and bad character writing, male or female. In the real world obesity means little in terms of a persons humanity, however, on film a fat character generally has the same traits. Look how everyone praised Sidibe in Precious. Or Camryn Manheim. A lot of their attention came from them being fat while also, OMG, being good actors! In the end, there's not a lot of "range" for a fat actor. Comedy is the best chance. And in comedy, fat jokes are endless. I don't agree that we are laughing with them. We are laughing AT them and they know it. Look at Farley and how miserable he really was. According to his brother, Spade, Michaels, and everyone else that knew him, he hated his weight and the fact IT was what defined him. He wanted that Fatty Arbuckle role so bad, because he knew that was the only role he could be fat and taken seriously. I guess I'm trying to say that we shouldn't take this treatment of McCarthy any different than we've treated fat male actors.

Additionally, obesity is not a good thing. Yes, some people have a genetic disposition towards being overweight but for the most part people are overweight by choice. Nearly every doctor will tell you the number one medical epidemic in this country isn't AIDs or cancer or diabetes its obesity. Rant over. Sorry....

Feb 10 - 11:54 PM

Big Brother

No no, you clarified your point nicely and I feel I have a much better understanding of where you're coming from. Never apologise for good honest discussion. It's a rarity.

Feb 11 - 04:34 PM

Word. Thanks, man.

Feb 11 - 05:46 PM

Sean D

The dude is like a low-brow Armond White :P

Feb 10 - 07:58 PM

Janson Jinnistan

I saw where Armond described "Bullet to the Head" as a "poetic narrative".

Feb 11 - 02:37 PM

Jayden Riley

Identity Thief.... I can hardly stand the preview. It looks like garbage to me, but of course there is a huge market for this sort of thing.

Feb 10 - 06:08 PM

Just because you have a good cast doesn't always mean you have a good film. But it doesn't matter to Universal since they're laughing their way to the bank.

Feb 11 - 08:00 AM

There's also a huge market for "The Transformers" films as well as other films that depends on CGI instead of live action- what's your point!

Feb 12 - 02:40 PM

Typhon Q

Identity Thief looks hilarious. I'm glad its doing well.

Feb 10 - 06:58 PM

Matthew Reimer

Good to see a come back to Argo.

Feb 10 - 07:21 PM

Shane Patterson

Glad people make up their own minds to see a film. Screw critics.

Feb 10 - 07:50 PM

Mick Travis

Whatever, it still looks like shite!

Feb 11 - 08:57 AM

Gage Kent

Shane, congrats. This is the dumbest thing I have heard all day.

Feb 11 - 12:26 PM

greg baltzer

I really liked Bullet To The Head. Stallone and Jason Mamoa were both really good. Didn't care for the acting of Stallone's side kick, but it was a pretty good movie.

Feb 11 - 01:50 AM

You are high off your fucking ass.

Feb 11 - 06:36 AM

Chum Chum

What's wrong with that?

Feb 11 - 07:54 AM

Ummm, maybe because Bullet to the Head and any other film Stallone has been in the last 10 years has been complete garbage?

Feb 11 - 10:41 AM

John Noto

I think he was taking issue with you implying that one's affinity for chemically altered mind states negatively affects their taste in movies

Feb 11 - 11:09 AM

Mick Travis

Watch 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY stoned off your ass, seriously!

Feb 11 - 03:49 PM

"Stallone has been in the last 10 years has been complete garbage?"

@Ben Moore........You're not even close to know what you're talking about and should retract that previous comment, because yes or no- "you" haven't seen everything Stallone has been in for the last 10 years? As I recall, "Rocky Balboa" from 2006 scored an average of more than 75% both from the users as well as the RT critics, and while you didn't like "The Expendables 2" either, the thing is the mass majority of users did like that film scoring it 70% as opposed to the critics who gave it 65% meaning that your Stallone bashing is childish and cannot be taken seriously at all!

And to remind you that to say from another article that his voice is a good reason why he can't act is a similar critism to Rex Reed's comment about Melissa McCarthy looks like a "hippo" is poor critism for a film not being good because it directs it toward the person himself/ herself as opposed to the actual film, especially if you haven't even seen "Bullet To The Head" nor "Identity Thief" so how can your critisms be taken seriously at all! Anyone who criticize peoples appearances as a reason a film not being good are hypocrites in my opinion!

I mean, it's evident to me that you love movies but when it comes to Stallone's appearance as well as his "voice"- he pretty much irritates the living hell out of you because in my opinion he pretty much sounds the same as he does in all his films "than" I suggest you should stop watching everything he's in as of right now since no one is forcing you and that you should be relieved from this - this also includes "Rocky". "Cliffhanger", "Nighthawks" and "First Blood"!

Feb 13 - 12:55 PM

Once again, people are paying to see garbage. Glad to see some fat fuck and some typecast guy drive around and attempt to be funny destroy in box office. Good job America. But really...I'm glad to see Bullet to the Head continue to tank. Fuck you Stallone.

Feb 11 - 06:35 AM

You can't always blame the actors for making bad movies. The writers, producers and directors can also get involved and dictate the development course. They can put what they want in a movie, but of course they can't dictate how it's gonna turn out.

Feb 11 - 08:05 AM

Yeah that seems to be the problem. Why can't directors know that the film will be ass? Well the answer is that they really don't give a shit of how shitty the movie is because they know people are dumb enough to buy tickets for it. It's all about the money.

Feb 11 - 10:40 AM

Gage Kent

Pretty much. Hollywood is a business. The first priority of a business is to make money. You make money by appealing to the majority. The majority of moviegoers are stupid. Thus, lots of stupid crap is made.

Feb 11 - 12:28 PM

Umm, what's your definition of crap, because they're a fine amount of films that scored well with users more than the critics, and I'm sure you liked some films that have been dumped by critics as well- you cannot tell me that everything you have liked are perfectly spot on!

Feb 12 - 01:59 PM

Matthew Reimer

Hey Ben, did you even Bullet to The Head? You shouldn't complain about a movie you haven't seen but if you did see the movie then I get your point.

Feb 11 - 02:23 PM

No and I don't have to see it to know it is trash. So you should still get my point. And well said Gage....well said.

Feb 11 - 04:12 PM

Matthew Reimer

Oh yeah I totally get your point I was just curious to know.

Feb 11 - 04:26 PM

There is a lot of garbage out there, but sometimes we find some gems in the heep. Not saying that BTTH is one of those, but I would never have seen Tremors or Evil Dead 2 or Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or The Frighteners (just to name a few) if I had listened to people who were saying that they were going to be terrible. Plus, sometimes bad can be entertaining if youre willing to sit back and "let go".

Feb 11 - 05:54 PM

@Ben Moore So what you're saying to me is that you have no 'guilty pleasures', every film that you have seen and liked all have positive scores with the RT critics and I'm calling you a liar!

Feb 12 - 02:22 PM

Chum Chum

I wonder how many it's funny "cause she's fat" jokes there are

Feb 11 - 07:53 AM

Probably too many.

Feb 11 - 08:01 AM

Mick Travis

Yet another weekend where the country exposes their Honey Boo Boo stupidity and ignorance. But, hey, as Infernal Dude says, the star looks like 60% of the country, no surprise!

Feb 11 - 10:13 AM

Gene Bodyl

Despite the bad reviews, I'm glad Identity Thief did better than expected at the box office. Maybe this will teach Rex Reed to shove his own mouth up his ass before calling an actress fat. I'm kind of sad Side Effects didn't do great. Finally, there is a good movie out there for once and people don't seem to realize that.

Feb 11 - 07:56 PM

I wonder how the fifth "Die Hard" will turn out

Feb 11 - 08:38 PM

biji badness

I comPLETELY thought the whole 'controversial review by "formerly influencial(?)" critic rex reed(??) failed to hurt movie's opening' thing was a clever admission to how little critics now matter to a movie's opening. I had to google the whole thing. Pretty despicable, eh?? I mean, granted he's not paid to look good, but still - THAT guy has no business ripping on anyone's looks, ever, dude. (again, critic and actor are two very different aspirations with very different expectations and requirements, but i cant just let this one go)

Feb 11 - 09:36 PM