THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2001

''Legally Blonde'' wins case at U.S. box office

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``Blonde'' ambition paid off for actress Reese Witherspoon as her new comedy, ``Legally Blonde,'' surprised observers by debuting at No. 1 at the North American weekend box office.

At the other end of the scale, Steven Spielberg's ``A.I. Artificial Intelligence'' continued to plummet, according to studio figures issued Sunday. After three weeks of release, the highly publicized sci-fi drama now ranks at No. 9.

``Legally Blonde'' pulled in $20.4 million in the three days since its Friday bow. ``The Score,'' a heist thriller starring Robert De Niro, opened at No. 2 with $19 million, a record for the actor's dramatic oeuvre. Last week's champion, the family comedy ``Cats & Dogs,'' slipped to No. 3 with $12.0 million.

Observers had expected box office honors to go to ``Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within,'' a sci-fi cartoon inspired by a popular Japanese video game. In the end, the film ranked No. 4 with a disappointing $11.5 million. The bullish forecasts had been based on the film's strong $5 million Wednesday launch.

Overall box office receipts fell for the third consecutive weekend, underscoring industry concerns about the lukewarm summer moviegoing period, when the industry makes most of its money. Studio executives said good weather across much of the country kept fans away from theaters.

However Witherspoon fans are a resolute lot. The ``Legally Blonde'' figure marks the biggest nonsequel opening for its studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., a company spokeswoman said. The film is also MGM's third No. 1 this year, after ''Hannibal'' and ``Heartbreakers.''

``BLONDE'' NOT JUST FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Witherspoon plays a Porsche-driving fashionista who enrolls at Harvard Law School to win back her boyfriend, and surprises everyone with her unorthodox prowess in the courtroom. The $18 million film won favorable reviews, especially for Witherspoon, whose credits include ``Election'' and ``American Psycho.''

About three-quarters of the audience was female, and viewers were split evenly either side of 21 years, according to Bob Levin, MGM's marketing and distribution president. While exit polling was strong among women, he was especially heartened by the above-average scores from males.

``We weren't just a little girl's movie,'' Levin said. ''They're sitting through a very entertaining comedy that doesn't feel preachy.''

``The Score'' (Paramount Pictures) stars De Niro as a jewel thief who undertakes one last daring robbery with a new partner, played by Edward Norton, despite his better instincts. The Frank Oz-directed film was budgeted at $68 million.

Although De Niro is best known for dramas like the ''Godfather'' franchise and ``Taxi Driver,'' he makes the most money with comedies like ``Meet the Parents'' and ``Analyze This.'' ''The Score'' ranks behind these two on his list of top openers.

De Niro's old ``Godfather'' co-star Marlon Brando provides comic relief in a few scenes. However, moviegoers were motivated more by the De Niro-Norton combo than by a rare screen turn from a Hollywood legend, a Paramount spokeswoman said. Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc.

After 12 days in release, ``Cats & Dogs'' (Warner Bros.) has pulled in $58.9 million, and should break $100 million, said Dan Fellman, the studio's distribution president. WB is a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc.

SPIELBERG FILM SLIDES

The relatively unheralded film will thus outperform ``A.I. Artificial Intelligence,'' which Warner Bros. produced with Spielberg's DreamWorks studio. After opening at No. 1 two weeks ago, and then falling to No. 3, it now ranks at No. 9 with $5.1 million and a 17-day total of $70 million. It lost 63 percent of its audience from last weekend, once again suffering the steepest fall in the top 10. Fellman predicted it would reach $80 million. It reportedly cost about $100 million to produce.

On the other hand, ``A.I.'' was doing well overseas, Fellman said. Based on early figures, he predicted it would end up with $90 million in Japan, the world's No. 2 market.

``Scary Movie 2'' (Dimension) rounded out the top five, falling three places in its second weekend with $9.5 million. The 12-day total for the comedy spoof stands at $52.9 million, and it should end up with about $75 million, a studio spokesman said. Dimension Films is a wing of Miramax Films, which is owned by Walt Disney Co.

``Final Fantasy,'' whose lifelike characters have sparked press stories heralding the demise of human actors, has a five-day total of $19.1 million. It was released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp.

The top 12 films grossed $108 million, down 11 percent from last weekend and down 25 percent from the year-ago period when ''X-Men'' opened at No. 1 with $54 million. New releases next weekend include the Julia Roberts comedy ``America's Sweethearts'' and ``Jurassic Park III.''

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

The top movies in North America -- July 13-15

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the July 13-15 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

Title Gross Gross

1. Legally Blonde .......... $20,377,426

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $20,377,426

2. The Score .......... $19,018,807

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $19,018,807

3. Cats & Dogs .......... $12,033,590

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $58,945,593

4. Final Fantasy:  The Spirits Within .......... $11,408,853

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $19,028,896

5. Scary Movie 2 .......... $ 9,554,442

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $52,975,784

6. The Fast and the Furious .......... $8,088,195

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $115,615,345

7. Dr. Dolittle 2 .......... $7,483,973

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $84,734,774

8. Kiss of the Dragon .......... $6,010,165

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $24,122,981

9. A.I. Artificial Intelligence .......... $5,214,891

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $70,097,455

10. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider .......... $3,883,274

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $122,512,612

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

John L.:  There is a lot going on this week with three new movies in the top ten as well as, get this, 3 full reviews from me of all of them.  Reese Witherspoon has finally broken out in a box office hit.  Maybe the critics that have kissed her butt the last 4 years were on to something.  Bobby D and friends have scored with the Score.  Will it have any longevity.  The biggest surprise of the week is the complete rejection of realistic computer animation by the mainstream public.  Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within was supposed to open in the top spot or with at least $25 million to $30 million.  More on that later.  

LEGALLY BLONDE - FULL REVIEW

Legally Blonde is one of the most formulaic movies I have ever seen.  There isn't one moment in this film that is unpredictable or has been seen a thousand times in other movies.  Reese Witherspoon is cute in a strange way, but she has a bit of a butter face.  Everything is good "but her" face.  If you saw "Clueless" then you have seen every fashion joke made in this film.  With all of this, I can still say, with no regret, that Legally Blonde is one of the  best films I have seen this year.  I enjoyed almost everything that occurred in this movie even though I could have written the rest of the script 15 minutes into it.  The movie is the story of Elle Woods (Witherspoon), who is in love with her long time boyfriend, Warner Huntington III (Mathew Davis).  However, Warner does not think that Elle is worthy to be his long term mate because she is a ditzy blonde, and Warner needs a Jackie Kennedy, and not a Marilyn Monroe type.  That reference is a bit dated.  For those who don't remember Jacki O, and oh Marilyn, the reverse equivalent would be him needing a Hillary, and not a uhh... Monica.  Warner is going to go to Harvard Law School and become a famous lawyer who eventually runs for political office.  Elle gets the idea to chase after him to Harvard and prove to him that she is not a ditz, and is worthy of his love. Through various means and a relative of a famous director, she gets into the most prestigious school in the country.  The rest is pretty standard as not all of Elle's hopes and plans come to be as her valley girl attitude does not sit well with the uptight Ivy Leaguers, especially Vivian's who becomes Elle's number one nemesis.  The plot of movie goes through the motions to establish Elle as a "Being There" genius, Warner as a creep, and the best ways to perm your hair, defend a person accused of murder, and fight off the advances of someone who should know better.  In math, you are given a formula to solve the most difficult problems like the Pythagorean Theorem, quadratic equation, and the area of a circle.  Use them correctly and you get the right answer and an "A" on the test.  Use them incorrectly and you fail.  Many films follow a certain predictable formula, but miss a few steps so they end up bombing. Other films follow the formula to the letter and they end up making tons of money.  Legally Blonde takes the formula of  girl wants boy divided by boy doesn't want girl + the square root of girl goes out of her way to impress boy times overcoming their own shortcomings to succeed in her quest when it was not thought possible - the sum of obstacles blocking her quest + the addition of cute guy who she does not realize is really the one divided by our hero quitting when things get too rough times the encouragement of the sorry soul she helped + the use of their long time strength to beat the bad guys in shocking fashion times getting the right guy at the end while the wrong guy pouts.  You see how complicated this formula is and why it rarely works.  Witherspoon gives an MTV Movie Award winning performance here and I am now a fan.  She plays the goofy sorority rich girl who is never taken seriously, which she uses to her advantage.  Her character's catch phrases, mannerisms, fashion, and especially her dog, Bruiser are all fun to listen to and watch.  This is a very difficult role to do and be taken seriously.  When she gives the pink, scented resume to the law professor, I had to laugh at how ridiculous that is, but it was funny because the movie took the time to establish the character as someone who would do that.  People talk about movies not having any character development in them, but there are a few in this movie that are different from where they started to where they end up.  The character Selma Blair plays has her own character arc that is not too surprising, but at least it's there and it makes some sense as it happens.  Everyone in the movie does a good job with maybe Luke Wilson as Emmett the associate to Professor Callahan being the least interesting.  Wilson is playing the same role he played in "Charlie's Angels," and is very underused here. He walks through the movie every time he appears, but fortunately since he is not the main focus, it does not hurt the film too much.  Jennifer Coolidge, best known as Mrs. Stifler, the MILF from "American Pie" shows up as a hairdresser who needs Elle's legal and personal help.  Coolidge has been showing up a lot in recent movies like Pootie Tang and Down to Earth, and the upcoming American Pie 2.  For some reason Hollywood is giving her a push.  She is good in this movie, but I think she should take some time off before she completely wears out her welcome.  Legally Blonde will be loved by most girls since it is about fashion and romance and getting the best of people who put you down.  Guys will like the movie because there are a few gratuitous scenes of girls wearing very little clothing, Ali Larter, who I have loved since her whipped cream seduction in "Varsity Blues, as the murder defendant, and Witherspoon looking quite good as Elle.  I was not a big fan of Clueless because it's plot was never that coherent.  This movie has a decent plot that flows to a nice feel good conclusion.  Legally Blonde is funny, cute, witty, and a nice Summer movie that does not take itself too seriously.  Go see it.  Final Review:  4 stars out of 5; A; 8 out of 10; thumbs up.  

THE SCORE - FULL REVIEW

Robert Deniro and Marlon Brando have never appeared on the silver screen together in the same movie, but they have both played the same character from the Godfather movies.  Brando was Don Vito Corleone in Godfather 1, while Deniro played the younger version in Godfather 2.  This is the second time Deniro has acted with an actor that everyone is surprised he has never worked with when he did "Heat" with Al Pacino.  The Score is an example of a movie that follows a strict predictable formula and still misses getting the right answer.  This movie is about Nick Wells (Deniro) who is a jazz club owner in Montreal, Canada.  At least that's his day job.  He other profession, which is his true line of work is that of master thief.  He steals jewels and money from the rich and keeps it for himself.  However, he is getting a little long in the tooth and wants to stay legit and begin a regular life with his girlfriend, Diane, played by Angela Bassett.  But, like Al Pacino said in Godfather Part 3, "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."  In waddles in Max Baron, an old friend and associate of Nick's, played by Marlon Brando.  Max has one more job for Nick to do and it is fool proof.  Millions of dollars is involved as well as a very old scepter.  If Nick can do this for his buddy Max, then all will be right with the world.  Nick is a little reluctant, but before he can really commit to it, he is accosted on the street by a guy who needs directions to get to some place.  This guy is a little strange, but it seems he has a case of cerebral palsy or something and has trouble speaking.  After Nick tells him how many lefts and rights he should make that will cause him to not miss where he is going, the guy says thank you... Nick.  Uh, how does this handicapped guy know who Nick is?  Oh, I see, he's just been conned.  This guy is not handicapped, he is a thief just like Nick and he is in on the scepter heist with Max.  This new guy is Jackie, but his friends call him Brian.  Jackie/Brian is played by Edward Norton.  Jackie has infiltrated the building holding the scepter as a janitor with cerebral palsy named Brian.  That handicapped causes people to treat him like a child and not take him seriously so he has the run of the place without arousing suspicion.  From this point on, Jackie and Nick team up to get this do this last score.  The rest of the movie is pretty obvious from this point on, and follows all the basic ideas involved in breaking into a building by getting pass codes, getting by infra red, using fancy laptops, and dodging video cameras.  The formula seems to be working for the movie, but it forgets to do some things.  The twists and turns it takes are very basic and the final one is so obvious, you may as well leave an hour into the film.  For this movie to work, it needs a big payoff at the end, and it just does not happen.  There needed to be about 2 more bits of shenanigans to get the importance of the heist over as being monumental.  When the movie is over you go, aha, but then you go "oh, okay that was nice, but so what?"  As the heist unfolds, there is very little suspense, since it is so obvious that the security guards are idiots and will ignore every clue they are given that something is wrong and they should check what they are guarding.  The acting duties are carried by Deniro and Norton.  However, none of them does anything we have not seen them do before in movies.  Deniro nearly walks through this role, but the part is a bit underwritten.  Also, he is too sympathetic.  I hate thieves you can identify with and feel sorry for.  The Nick character should have been a bit more hardcore and not so nice.  He steals from people but it is okay since he won't rob the people or places in the city he lives in.  Whoop dee freaking doo.  Code of honor sucks among thieves. I prefer double crosses and comeuppances. Deniro is a guy who has played many villains, but they are almost all ones the audience cares about and hopes not to be harmed.  The only character he has ever played that got booed was Max Cady in Cape Fear and Deniro even made you feel sorry for him since Nick Nolte is so annoying in that movie.  The villain quotient is taken care of by Edward Norton.  His fake CP act is a little disturbing because it seems to be goofing on people with that affliction, as well as exposing how people really patronize handicapped people and think they are all idiots.  Watching Norton as funny Brian made me question how I have reacted to similarly acting people.  Do I brush them off or do I try to talk to them as I do everyone else?  Seeing Norton walk around with a crooked hand and his head tilted to the side with drool coming out of his mouth was not fun to watch. People say that was good acting, but it is somewhat offensive.  However, I will say that it was a smart way to gain the trust of the security by acting that way.  Marlon Brando is always praised for his acting performances, but he has given the same performance in every movie.  People who have seen this movie say, "oh, Brando was excellent."  He doesn't do anything. He does nothing in this film that any other actor couldn't have done.  He has no big moment where he gets to act.  He just walks in, sits down and talks a bit.  He is in the movie just so the marketing department can say that he acted with Deniro on screen for the first time.  Big freaking deal.  He should have tried to get his Scary Movie 2 role back from James Woods.  Angela Bassett has practically no purpose in the film except to slobber all over Deniro.  Her role is even less significant than Cuba Gooding Jr.'s in Pearl Harbor.  I am also sick of these one last job and then I am done movies.  This movie will satisfy most people who see it if you don't think too much about what you have just witnessed. The Score is not that great a movie, but it follows the formula too closely without adding anything new to make things interesting.  It is fairly harmless entertainment, but nothing that memorable.  Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 6 out of 10; B-; thumbs down.

FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN - FULL REVIEW

I am a video game fanatic.  I have six video game systems hooked up to my television right now.  I have played many of the Final Fantasy games, and have even cleared a couple of them.  The last 3 games have moments in them that rival anything ever seen on film in terms of storytelling and graphical presentation.  They play like interactive movies.  So, when the creators of the current film, Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within, were asked to do a movie, the FF style seemed to be a natural for a hit cinematic adventure.  Computer animation would be used to create not only amazingly detailed backgrounds, but photo realistic characters that look as close to real human beings as possible.  The look alone of the film should have been good enough to entice the whole world to go see it.  Ah, but the makers of the movie knew that pretty pictures had to be backed up with a good story.  Speaking of story, Toy Story had been released when FF was in early talks, and it showed that a full computer animated film could be made and could be successful and be well liked by the masses.  The story of FFTSW is about an alien race that has overrun the Earth leaving only a few survivors.  Those survivors are trying to figure out ways to deal with this invasion, and one person seems to be on the right path to doing so.  That person is Dr. Aki Ross, voiced by Ming-Na.  She is looking for the 8 spirits that when put together will somehow hold back the alien threat.  This quest also involves the concept of the Earth being a living entity that feels pain when it is damaged.  "It is not a fairy tale, it is real" as Dr. Sid says at one point, voiced by Donald Sutherland.  So, the basic plot is a group of humans get together to save the world from an alien invasion.  Pretty simple story, that has the added rub of a lot of new age spiritual mumbo jumbo about Gaea and Earth Mothers and souls and the like.  This movie is ahead of its time.  The world is not ready for what Final Fantasy is giving them.  The animation and story are fine, but the thing that was hoped to be its biggest selling point, is the main reason people are avoiding it.  The movie looks too real. People like to see cartoony computer animation like Toy Story and Shrek.  Whenever it gets too real, it makes you feel uneasy and unsure of yourself.  It's like an optical illusion you just can't quite see all the way.  You think you are seeing real actors, but as you look closer, you see that you are looking at some poorly animated action figures.  The look is there, but one of the things that hurts the movie is that it is not animated as well as it thinks it is.  If the characters stood still, then you would be amazed, but they have to move and talk, and that is not quite right yet, especially the talking.  The lips barely move in sync with the dialogue.  You notice right away that it is a chore to pry those lips open of these characters.  Their body movements are fine, but every once in a while they get bouncy and unrealistic with its over animation.  It's like they have ADD or something they get so twitchy.  They can't sit still.  More action on the lips and less on the hips would have helped matters.  There was a big deal made about how the 60,000 strands of hair on Dr. Aki were individually added and animated.  It shows, and it is annoying as well. Every close up of Aki has to show each hair follicle roll around her head.  No other character gets that much detail.  It is also distracting to hear some of the more famous voices on characters that don't look like them.  This is especially troublesome for Steve Buscemi's voice being on someone who has no resemblance to him whatsoever.  James Woods is the closest thing to a villain in the movie and he does his best overacting since he played Hades in Disney's Hercules.  Woods voice over is good, but the animation the character, General Hein, is disturbing.  They needed to lessen the sharpness of those eyebrows.  Sutherland as Dr. Sid does the best work and his character comes closest to looking like him.  Sid is also the only character that has any reference to the video game.  There is a "Cid" character in each game, and the good doctor in the movie is the homage to it.  The Aki character looks to be some form of Asian heritage, but they forgot to squint the eyes a bit so she looks like a cross between Connie Chung and Diane Sawyer.  That little bit of offness makes it hard to watch her run around babbling about the 8th spirit.  You do not have to have played the video games to see this movie.  The movie has nothing to do with them since all the games are individual stories with no real links to each other.  There is this ostrich like yellow bird in the games that can be seen on the walls or outfits of some characters in the movie, but no one rides them like you have to do to travel in the Final Fantasy video game worlds.  I personally liked the movie, but it is too artsy for its own good to have mass appeal. The film looks great, and is a better animated effort than last year's misguided "Titan A.E."  Hollywood may be less apt to make one of these movies again because they cost more than most live action films and it takes 4 years to put it altogether.  Computer animation will not replace live actors any time soon if ever.  This movie proves that.  Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within should be seen for its revolutionary look and fairly interesting story.  It has many problems, but this type of film should be made again when the technique is a bit more perfected.  Final Review:  2 1/2 stars out of 5; 6 1/2 out of 10; B-; thumbs up.  

REST OF THE TOP 10 IN 10:

1.    There is talk that work on a Cats and Dogs 2 is not too far off in the future.

2.    Jeff Goldblum is gold when it comes to Summer movies since he has been in 2 Jurassic Park movies, Independence Day, and now Cats and Dogs.

3.    Scary Movie 2 is not doing as well as the first movie.

4.    However, Scary Movie 2 did not cost a whole lot, so it will end up making a profit for the studio.

5.    I think Keenan Ivory Wayans should now do movie that makes fun of movie parodies and call it I Flew My Airplane on a Top Secret Mission and Hot Shotted my way as I Got that Sucka who made me pay to see Scary Movie and sit next to Leslie Neilsen.

6.    Jordana Brewster, from Fast and the Furious is my movie babe of the week and will be until FATF leaves the top 10:

7.    Dr. Doolittle 2 is my guilty pleasure of 2001 since I don't believe a lot of people actually enjoyed it as much as I did.

8.    I knew Kiss the Dragon was not going to do that well since Jet Li is just too dominate when he kicks someone's ass.

9.    A. I. was supposed to be a huge hit this Summer, but it seems that the script needed a bit more real intelligence and not as much of the artificial kind.

10.    My other guilty pleasure of the year is Tomb Raider, which I enjoyed more than most people.

Julia Roberts vs Sam Neil is the match up for next week.  Julia is the biggest star, male or female in the world.  Her last four movies have opened with at least $20 million.   She has just won the Oscar for best actress without thanking the woman who inspired the role.  Her last movie performed adequately even though it had Brad "box office death" Pitt in it.  Roberts plus romantic comedy equals money to burn.  America's Sweethearts has a good chance to open with at least $30 million this weekend, but I don't think it will be good enough to out do the opening weekend of Jurassic Park III.  It could be a record breaking time at the box office.  We shall see.  Bye for now.