(Via Instapundit) He… liked it, actually. Which is impressive, because the media blitz for WICKED is giving off heavy It’s Not For You vibes for, I dunno, roughly half the population? But apparently it’s good, if you like musicals and/or the original stage production.
Well, that’s cool. Not everything has to be made for me. …I can pretty much end that statement there, huh? Because, really, it’s true: not everything has to be made for me.
You are correct, not everything has to be made for you (nor must everything be made for me, I’m mature enough to admit).
I strongly object when things are aggressively pushed at me though. i.e. I would take all the bets against there being a significant crossover audience between this film and the NFL fanbase, yet for weeks every broadcast has been blanketed with coverage both in commercial breaks and in-game by the announcers. This feels (again, to me) more like the pernicious style of progressive “FUCK YOU, DAD, YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO” advertising than it does “Please allow us to Inform You About our Product” type. i.e. the ads were purchased not to actually generate income or awareness but to vex and frustrate those who wouldn’t see it anyway.
As a recovering Theater Kid(I naively joined up for the surface-level fun, not the Lifestyle™), I appreciate what a well produced show it is. And, the movie appears to do what it set out to do: recreate the stage-show on film. It is what it says on the tin.
The cross-promotion is part of a shameless attempt at “Barbenheimer” 2.0, combined with the fact that the NFL has been chasing their audience’s girlfriends for two decades.
Also, like other recent examples IT and Dune, this film decided to disguise the fact that it is only half a film for months, and still doesn’t openly admit in its ads that it is an incomplete product.
I’d quite enjoy seeing an enterprising lawyer gin up a class action suit for deceptive practices and refuse to settle for anything less than free tickets everyone in the class and screw their follow up box office numbers.
I really hate the “you will be forced to care” thing.
I also strongly dislike cherished childhood memories being reimagined/subverted/deconstructed. (I read the entire series countless times.). While I realize this is an adaptation of a subversion inspired by an adaptation, that doesn’t make me inclined to like it.
And the chick playing The Wicked Witch of the West seems like an ass.
Plus, my opinion of Hollywood has become positively subterranean.
So I’d kind of like to see it crash and burn. To the extent that I care. Which is admittedly only when reminded of its existence.
I can’t seem to muster any feelings at all for this movie. It doesn’t repulse me like Barbie, and doesn’t capture my imagination like Dune. It’s just one of those things that exists within my awareness but without my direct involvement, like ballet or company Christmas parties.