The busy, pre-“Avatar” week for trailers continues, with another one of next summer’s big movies debuting its first footage, along with a big rom-com. And they both look excruciating.
“Shrek Forever After” at least has one thing going for it – the promise that it’ll be the last in the franchise of diminishing returns. We discussed our favorite animated films of the decade earlier in the week, and you may have noticed that none of the Shrek films, or any other Dreamworks CGI films, made the cut, and deservedly so. For the most part, they’re the worst kind of celebrity-fueled, pop-culture referencing, lowest-common denominator rubbish, (we caught “Monsters vs. Aliens” recently, and couldn’t quite believe how terrible it was) and this looks no different. Hee, hee, Shrek done fall over! Hee, hee, donkey done a poo! Hee, hee, kitty got fat! This is the first installment of the franchise to debut in 3-D, so you can watch the jokes date instantly in glorious three dimensions.
Looking even worse is “The Bounty Hunter,” which sees Andy Tennant (“Hitch,” “Fool’s Gold”) seeming to perform a tribute to Martin Brest, by making a film with the plot of “Midnight Run,” which looks about as good as “Gigli.” It teams possibly the least appealing screen couple in history, shrieking neurotic Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, who is to comedy what Glenn Beck is to reasoned political debate. Butler, whose idea of playing light and funny appears to be to look like he’s suffocating, plays an ex-cop turned bounty hunter, who is hired to track down his ex-wife, a journalist who’s stumbled across some mobsters. Jeff Garlin, Jason Sudeikis and Peter Greene (man, where’s he been?) co-star. We hope they were well compensated.