Popcorn

In the middle of last year - perhaps a little longer ago - the cinema where my nephew works as 'the greatest projectionist in Oxford (tm)' was approached by the producers of an independent British film. Their film was called Popcorn and, predicatably enough, they wanted to film it in the cinema (which was at the time independent itself, though it has since been taken over by Vue) - but this didn't happen because the cinema's owners asked for too much cash. Tightwads.

From what I found out about the film at the time, I was pretty sure it'd never see the light of day... but now, of course, I've received a link to the official site, and I've seen the trailer and... I'm still not entirely convinced it will see the light of day.

Judge for yourself, but I can honestly say, the Popcorn trailer really is the worst I've seen in a very, very long time. Lowest common denominator cliches abound; the camera and editing lack any sense of purpose beyond the absolutely most mundane; the jokes aren't really even jokes; the cast has been scraped up from Eastenders, Hollyoaks and - gah! - Celebrity Love Island and then been given a script way below the standards they will have grown accustomed to; there's no point of view or personality, no taste or sense of perspective on display; the film is clearly stupid, patronising, utterly lacking in any real ambition and offers no meaningful challenge to even the laziest, or most idiotic of viewer - and is even being sold on these 'strengths'. Popcorn wants to be the opiate of the masses. The people who made this film could have saved their time, and ours, by waiting until they had something original to say, a reason to say it and a way to say it that wasn't so insulting to an audience's intelligence. Hopefully, next time they will (ahem) but until then... Popcorn.

Sigh. Billy Wilder and Ernst Lubitsch would spin in their graves to see such a trailer.