The Critics Are Raving (Mad): ‘Megalopolis’ Scandal Reminds How Blurbs Are Used and Misused in Movie Advertising
variety.comPeter Debruge Chief Film Critic This week, Lionsgate released — and then promptly recalled — an audacious trailer for “Megalopolis,” an ugly yet undeniably ambitious late-career monstrosity from Francis Ford Coppola.
Normally, trailers come padded with hyperbolic quotes from less-than-credible critics — “quote whores,” we call them — plucked out of context and punched up with exclamation marks (a form of punctuation seldom if ever used by critics in print, but ubiquitous in movie advertising). “An edge-of-your-seat thrill ride!” (“Any Given Sunday”) “The best Western since ‘Unforgiven’!” (“3:10 to Yuma,” “Hostiles” or “Bone Tomahawk,” depending on who you ask) “Two Thumbs Way Up!” (professional enthusiasts Siskel and Ebert on more movies than you can count) In the case of “Megalopolis,” the marketing team tried a different strategy.
Instead of quoting reviews out of the Cannes Film Festival (where the critics were across-the-board disappointed, with a few charitable exceptions, who contorted themselves into pretzels, trying to find something positive to say about the movie), Lionsgate lied.
Whoever oversaw that trailer seemed to be working on the assumption that you’ve already heard that “Megalopolis” is a disaster, so they set out to discredit the critics … by making up negative reviews of past Coppola triumphs.
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