ROTTEN TOMATOES: Colts vs. Bears? Bring on the Super Bowl Commercials!

Colts vs. Bears? Bring on the Super Bowl Commercials!

by Jen Yamato | February 04, 2007

Whether you'll be watching Sunday's showdown for the gridiron action or waiting to see what millions of dollars in advertising money looks like, we'll be here logging the best and worst of this year's Super Bowl XLI spots! Place your vote!

They've already told us not to expect any huge movie trailer premieres (unless you're desperately looking forward to "Pride," "Meet the Robinsons," or the old guy biker gang comedy, "Wild Hogs"). But Super Bowl commercials are always great no matter the sponsor, right?

Travolta riding easy in "Wild Hogs"

Well, you be the judge of that. We'll keep a running tab of the commercials as they happen -- cast your vote on the best and worst of this year's offerings, or just discuss 'em with fellow couch quarterbacks.

Our pick for best bet? Kevin Federline's Nationwide Insurance spot, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog slinging for the NFL, Robert Goulet for Emerald Nuts, and the Prince halftime show!

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3:09 pm: First Trailer
If you turn off the sound, the trailer for Antoine Fuqua's "Shooter" starring Mark Wahlberg and Danny Glover actually looks a lot like "Live Free or Die Hard," except without the hype or the excitement. You can check out the trailer we have available here, which goes more into the story and doesn't feature quick cuts. Or you can the image below for the flipbook:

3:15 pm: Ghost Rider

There's not much here that we haven't seen before in previous "Ghost Rider" trailers, but it does look like a decent comic book movie with slick CGI sequences and bright colors. The only problem is it's coming out in February, the month when Studios put out films that they don't have much confidence in. Check out the trailer for the Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes starring "Ghost Rider" here - it's not much different than the one shown in the Super Bowl.

3:25 pm: Game on!
It's raining.

3:25:20 pm: TOUCHDOWN BEARS!

Hmm...Bud Light's rock-paper-scissors spot...Doritos...those Blockbuster critters. Not laughing out loud yet.

I's great how the first three Superbowl commercials feature gratuitious violence: a man gets hit in the head with a rock, two people suffer automobile accident-related head injuies, and there's a shocking sequence of rodent-on-rodent violence. Man, that JT-Janet halftime show seems positively quaint by these days.

Sierra Mist's one-two punch: the beard comb-over and the lesser-funny soda-protection karate class. Meh. What a waste of Michael Ian Black and Jim Gaffigan.

The "Pride" trailer is pretty lame. Looks like a typical movie where lives are affirmed and spirits are uplifted. Terrence Howard stars. It's tough out here for a swimming coach!

The Coke Grand Theft Auto spot; now that's cute!

Cheesiest ad so far: salesgenie.com. My goodness. It looks like a parody or something.

We've also seen a vaguely homophobic Snickers commercial (the one where the two dudes share a Snickers bar, then rip their out chest hair) and a vaguely racist Bud Light commercial (the one where it's supposed to be hilarious that people have accents). Not amused.

Can't forget that Chevy commercial with various people singing songs with Chevrolet references, such as Nelly's "E.I.," Elton John's "Crocodile Rock," and the Beach Boys' "409." It's pretty tuneless, except for Mary J. Blige. She rules.

THE HALFTIME SHOW!

Prince has got to be one of the best Super Bowl halftime performers ever. Even in his old lady head scarf. Need I point out:

The glow-in-the-dark marching band
The "Artist Formerly Known As Prince" symbol-shaped stage
The weird early '90s-esque matching dancing ladies
The "best of Prince" set list

And the most memorable/huh? moment: Prince covering Foo Fighters ("Best of You") ostensibly as a thank you for Foo Fighters covering Prince ("Darling Nikki"). But do we really have to cut the intro to "Let's Go Crazy" short?? The opening monologue is the best part!

I hope they cut short this football business and give us a full-length Prince concert. Play "When Doves Cry!!" And, in a bit of irony: Prince plays "Purple Rain" in the -- you guessed it -- pouring rain!!

Now it's over and you've got to wonder: who's the genius who first thought "Prince" and "NFL" would go together in the first place?

THE SECOND HALF

To start the second half, there was a Bud Light ad in which a bunch of people were slapping each other; a Philip K. Dickian GM ad in which a robot commits suicide; and a pharmacutical ad in which a guy dressed in a heart costume is brutally assaulted in an alley. Apparently, violence sells beer and cars, and reminds people to take better care of their hearts.

Coke and Tostitos pay tribute to Black History Month. Now that's something we can get behind, not least of which because neither ad features any brutal beatings.

5:40 MEET THE ROBINSONS

Featuring the voice talents of Angela Bassett and Tom Selleck, "Meet the Robinsons" looks like a mix between "Jimmy Neutron" and "Toy Story." Not exactly spectacular, but could be decent family fare. Check out the trailer here.

6:39 HANNIBAL RISING

It's the same trailer you've been seeing on TV and elsewhere. It stars Gong Li. Check out the trailer here.

AHH, SUPER BOWL 41

Mediocre game, mediocre commercials. Too many fumbles all around. Fortunately, Robert Goulet livened things up with an Emerald Nuts ad. The commecial itself is so-so, but Goulet himself is genius.

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(1-20 of 23 posts) | Reply

privatepilesleftnipple writes:
on Feb 04 2007 05:38 AM

THE HILLS ARE Alive with the sound of music.....

(Reply to this)

sir_mcchris_the_pirate writes:
on Feb 04 2007 07:10 AM

I'm just going to say its gonna be Robert Goulet haha, i didnt now that was going to be a commercial, pure genius right there!!!

GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Reply to this)

Super Simba writes:
on Feb 04 2007 07:49 AM

Meet the Robinsons looks fun, if a bit too hyper...Haven't heard of the othert films though.

(Reply to this)

aknddon3 writes:
on Feb 04 2007 11:15 AM

GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Reply to this)

dagreenman18 writes:
on Feb 04 2007 11:34 AM

Triumph is always funny and Goulet will be funny too. Whild Hogs is a shit movie about old fogeys. Fed's future is a funny commercial. im talking in fragments.

(Reply to this)

adml_shake writes:
on Feb 04 2007 11:53 AM

COLTS for the 2nd half comeback and THE WIN!!!

(Reply to this)

brave.sir.rob writes:
on Feb 04 2007 01:54 PM

GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Reply to this)

Jen Yamato writes:
on Feb 04 2007 03:25 PM

[b]I'm rooting for the Bears...[/b]
because (A) I like underdogs, and (B) a bear would obviously win in a fight to the death against a little horsie...

(Reply to this)

Snoochieflagship writes:
on Feb 04 2007 05:12 PM

[b]I lov4e everybody[/b]
Why is prince the halftime show.......?

(Reply to this)

karle writes:
on Feb 04 2007 05:31 PM

The coke grand theft auto isnt really new as it has been in theatres for months now. Think I even saw it once on TV in the last week.

(Reply to this)

Mavtactic writes:
on Feb 04 2007 07:12 PM

[b]COLTS WIN!!!![/b]

All BUDWISER commercials rule!

(Reply to this)

TheIceGhost writes:
on Feb 04 2007 07:34 PM

Wow, the superbowl commercials SUCKED this year

(Reply to this)

TheGreatOne13 writes:
on Feb 04 2007 07:55 PM

Yeah the commercials were really pitiful this year..the only ones that were even semi-good were of course some of the beer commericials..what a shocker!

(Reply to this)

RevolverOcelot writes:
on Feb 04 2007 08:36 PM

i hate grossman. i lost 10 bucks.

anyway, snickers had the best commercial. then sierra mist with gaffigan's comb-over.

(Reply to this)

Defmonkey writes:
on Feb 04 2007 10:18 PM

[b]What a bad showing for Commericals[/b]

The only funny ones were the first 3 at the beginning. And that was about it. I was almost half asleep the first half of the game.

And Prince as the half time show singer? That was very wierd. I really didn't know what to think as him preforming. I'm not sure to say if it was a really good job or not. Purple Rain fit in nicely. And I really digged his Last Guitar.... Seriously the guy picked up a new guitar for every song...

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RDawg5555 writes:
on Feb 04 2007 10:29 PM

The thing that pisses me off is that every 5 seconds they had to remind us that 2 African American coaches were facing each other. Who cares? Im sure it was getting on their nerves that the only issue of the game was race, which it shouldn't be.

(Reply to this)

sir_mcchris_the_pirate writes:
on Feb 05 2007 04:13 AM

I really liked the one where the robot commits suicide...i laughed out loud for that one..

(Reply to this)

Mike_Nelson82 writes:
on Feb 05 2007 08:45 AM

I hate Grossman and I lost $35, but I think the worst part of the night was the halftime show. I have a feeling who ever booked Prince was either a female, or a male with no sack. I'm glad that football wanted to cater to the transgendered audience this year.

(Reply to this)

Ashron writes:
on Feb 05 2007 08:55 AM

In reply to this comment (#854745)
Never played guitar, I take it? He had a different guitar for each song because they were tuned to the key of whatever song he was playing. Just in case you wanted to know.

(Reply to this)

Ashron writes:
on Feb 05 2007 08:57 AM

The commercials were pretty lame this year, although I did like the combover spot (and I'm not usually a big fan of the Sierra Mist spots) And I thought Prince rocked, but I'm sure some of that was nostalgia because I was a big fan in high school, during his Controversy/Purple Rain heyday. The man can still blow away most modern rock guitar players.

(Reply to this)

Movie:	Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
	Toy Story
	Ghost Rider
	Hannibal Rising
	Pride
	Shooter
	Wild Hogs
Celeb:	Kevin Federline
	Jim Gaffigan
	Michael Ian Black
	Eva Mendes
	Terrence Howard
	Nicolas Cage
	Danny Glover
	Robert Goulet
	Elton John
	Tom Selleck
	Gong Li
	Angela Bassett
	Mary J. Blige
	Beach Boys
	Mark Wahlberg
	Triumph the Insult Comic Dog