Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Movie Monday: "Catfish" Trailer

Catfish photo

Most Mondays, My Father & I go to the movies after doing some housework. The matinees are cheaper, & there's practically nobody in the theater.

But I'm not here to talk to you about "The Town," which is what I saw. Oh no, today I'm here to talk to you about the preview for "Catfish."

First of all, let's talk about the tagline. "The last 40 minutes of the film will send you on an emotional rollercoaster ride you won't be able to shake for days." (Rolling Stone? Citation needed) You know what that says to me? That the first half of the movie is something to be endured as I am set up for the ending.

Second, there's the poster: it's a red fish, which says to me RED HERRING. Faulty advertising? Maybe. But not easy to ignore.

Lastly, there's the trailer itself. It's kind of awkward and embarassing in tone: shaky, amateur photography that looks like somebody used a handheld camcorder to record a TV is less than endearing. The trailer is just interesting enough that I want somebody else to go & see it to tell me what it's about. When looking a few things up on the internet for this post, I came across a review that included the end, and was well pleased I will never waste my time or money to see it.

Was there ever a way that they could have marketed this movie to get me to want to see it? Probably not. But the fact that I keep calling it "Red Herring" in conversation is possibly one of the funniest marketing fails I have known in a while.

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