Mind Over Matter

"When the truth is shown...

...to be lies..." So said Gracie Slick in Jefferson Airplane's 1967 hit, "Somebody To Love." (Of course, you have to consider she named her kid "God", so I wouldn't tend to believe she has a lot of brain cells still firing in sequence).

Anyway, the above line refers to the DaVinci Code movie...and what appears to be a train wreck in the making. The first tremors became known when Opie appeared on late-night TV (I don't remember if it was Letterman or Leno), and the guy looked very nervous. As in, "oh, Lord, I've stepped in it now." This was followed by Tom Hanks' appearance on Saturday Night Live, where he tanked like the Titanic.

And then, we come to the movie's unveiling at the Cannes Film Festival. Cannes...you have to wonder what Sony Pictures was thinking, giving the world its first taste of an admittedly large-scale slam against the Catholic church, at a town in Europe, where Catholicism is the dominant religion. The Homer Simpson phrase "D'OH!" come to mind.

Anyway, the movie's big "reveal" appeared to be just that...although not what Opie and Crew probably had in mind. The audience laughed. Yep, at the highly-charged, climatic, "criminey, Margaret, I sure didn't see that coming!" moment...the crowd titters and hoots. Not the result I'd be looking for, if I was Sony and had sunk $125 million into an adventure pic, and that's the result. Of course, it still remains to be seen what Mr. and Mrs. Joe Lunchbucket will think of it when they plop down their hard-earned ticket money this weekend.

But if I was Mr. Howard (to whom I hold no ill will, I assure you), I'd be looking for an Andy Griffith reunion special. Like now.

Posted by jlr-5352 at May 17, 2006 11:26 AM