Mind Game

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On 12.14 I ran a short story on the Weinstein Co.'s Nine luncheon at Per Se, along with some photos. I called it "Nine Is A Ten" but I didn't explain that the line was a mock-quote fed to me by Forbes.com's Bill McCuddy, who was joking that CNN's Larry King (who was also at the luncheon) would eventually pass this quote along to Weinstein Co. publicists about Rob Marshall's film. Sure enough, the quote appeared in Friday's N.Y. Times. McCuddy nailed it before King said it -- brilliant.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 20, 2009 at 1:42 PM

comment #1

George Prager says ...

Larry King's People
My two cents... C'mon, Kellogg's, isn't it time for a prune Pop-Tart? Tony Danza has a nice package... When you look us "class" in the dictionary, you see a picture of Shadoe Stevens... Nathan Hale was some kind of a patriot, wasn't he?...Why didn't they replace the late Jack Soo on Barney Miller with another Chinese guy? I'm old enough to remember when toilet paper wasn't cottony soft... If Star Trek was real life, you can be sure that William Shatner's Captain Kirk would be up for a Nobel Peace Prize...Shoe horns are useful... Has anybody ever actually been elected Dog-Catcher?

Posted by George Prager at December 20, 2009 2:18 PM

comment #2

btwnproductions says ...

The majority of reviews indicate that "'Nine' is a Four!" "'Nine' is a Ten Minus Six!" is more accurate; it was TRANSFORMERS-level trashed in numerous outlets.

Posted by btwnproductions at December 20, 2009 2:29 PM

comment #3

Mr. F. says ...

BTWN -- yes, but that will only make its eventual Best Picture nomination that much more disgusting.

(I thought that if anything, "NINE is a TEN!" would come from the mouth of Rex Reed... but silly me, I forgot about THE KING!)

Posted by Mr. F. at December 20, 2009 2:33 PM

comment #4

arturobandini2 says ...

Meanwhile, I'm loving the review blurbs for Did You Hear About the Morgans? (Tomato rating = 10).

"Did You Hear How Bad The Morgans Is?"
"Did You Hear? The Morgans Stinks"
"Did You Hear About the Morgans? It's Not Funny."

Posted by arturobandini2 at December 20, 2009 3:52 PM

comment #5

dinovelvet says ...

It also applies to its poor box office showing. Did you hear about the Morgans? Well, moviegoers didn't, either. Zing!

Posted by dinovelvet at December 20, 2009 4:16 PM

comment #6

actionman says ...

wells -- didn't you like Nine?

Posted by actionman at December 20, 2009 5:32 PM

comment #7

BurmaShave says ...

I will take a Marc Lawrence-Hugh Grant film over a Rob Marshall film every time.

Posted by BurmaShave at December 20, 2009 6:09 PM

comment #8

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to Actionman: "Nine is a kind of sleek-elite Euro mood piece about 1960s Italy and sunglasses, hot women and cool coastal villages and...you know, artistic ennui and weltschmerz and all that aromatic razmatzz. It's not about 'story' as a kind of Italian glide-along atmosphere -- a lather of mood and attitude and locale and Euro-coolness. It's about the kind of movie-making people whose every word and gesture expresses the fact that they are removed from (and are most likely disdainful of) the American experience...people who would rather take a bullet in the head than be fat or poorly dressed or visit Venice during tourist season. So given all this history and expectation -- it's a locked-down thing without any wiggle or improv room -- it really isn't too bad. I mean, it's Nine...whaddaya want?"

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at December 20, 2009 7:52 PM

comment #9

Travis Crabtree says ...

NICE, George. Channeling some Norm MacDonald? Funny shit.

King's a whore.

"'Nine' just might be the greatest movie ever made!"

Posted by Travis Crabtree at December 20, 2009 10:16 PM

comment #10

azmoviegoer says ...

Everyone knows that when it comes to reviewing anything-books, movies cds etc- Larry King is such a quote whore about it he makes Travers/Hammond look like virgins by comparison. Which is why he gets advance copies/screenings of everything that comes down the pike. Except for, you know, the good stuff. Also every year he grows older he loolks more and more like the character of Owl in the Winnie the Pooh books.

Posted by azmoviegoer at December 20, 2009 10:33 PM

comment #11

azmoviegoer says ...

Forgot to say to Prager- very funny post as usual. You really nailed the voice of those awful columns he used to write for USA Today. You could have ghost-written them for him on his days off.

Also sorry for the typo above.

Posted by azmoviegoer at December 20, 2009 10:36 PM

comment #12

actionman says ...

thanks, wells

i'll see it because dion shot it

Posted by actionman at December 21, 2009 4:16 AM

comment #13

TL says ...

Sometimes I wonder if I'd be a happier person if I were able to like things as much as Larry King does....

Posted by TL at December 21, 2009 9:39 AM

comment #14

brandly says ...

ah..i do not think did you hear about the morgans? movie is that much bad one. last night i went with rozana , one of my friend, and we could not see any wrong thing in the movie. it was nice.
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Posted by brandly at December 22, 2009 1:15 AM

comment #15

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comment #16