We haven't seen Eva Mendes in a while and to be completely honest she ruined the fantasies of many men with this picture. Thank God for bright lights when taking pictures, right?...
Monday Morning Box Office Report: Up Parties Harder Than The Hangover
Another huge weekend for Pixar's Up put it just ahead of the R-rated comedy The Hangover in order to claim its second box office title in a row. Up dropped just 35% from last week, while The Hangover was a massive hit, earning $43 million to become the second highest opening for an R-rated comedy ever (behind last year's Sex and the City: The Movie). Land of the Lost was a distant third at the box office; the Will Ferrell comedy bombed pretty hard, earning back just $19 million of its reported $100 million budget. Nia Vardalos's My Life in Ruins had a weak opening as well, earning just $3.2 million, good enough for the #9 spot. Night at the Museum 2 and Star Trek rounded out the top 5.
1. Up -- $44.2M
2. The Hangover -- $43.3M
3. Land of the Lost -- $19.5M
4. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian -- $14.7M
5. Star Trek -- $8.4M
6. Terminator Salvation -- $8.18M
7. Drag Me to Hell -- $7.34M
8. Angels & Demons -- $6.5M
9. My Life in Ruins -- $3.23M
10. Dance Flick -- $2M
The players: Director: Donald Petrie, Writer: Mike Reiss, Cast: Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Harland Williams, Rachel Dratch, Caroline Goodall
Facts of interest: Donald Petrie also directed "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days."
The plot: Georgia is a desperate tour guide who has trouble entertaining her group of eccentric tourists.
Our thoughts: Sure, Nia Vardalos is a talented, charming actress, but she has no business being in Donald Petrie’s disastrous comedy “My Life in Ruins.” A movie with a main thematic as ancient as the architectural treasures of Greece, this big-screen trip is one you should skip at all costs… unless you fancy a simplistic plot with bad humor and absolutely no surprises.
Throughout My Life in Ruins, a couple of characters are frequently reminded that they are not as funny as they think they are. Unfortunately, this also applies to the movie itself. It wants to be a bubbly and occasionally zany comedy with a touch of romance surrounded by gorgeous Greek scenery ... but it often feels flat and forced, and even the landscapes seemed blah. It's being touted as a follow-up to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, with the same lead actress (Nia Vardalos), but it doesn't have the pleasing blend of comedy and family sentiment that made its predecessor a success.
The movie is about a five-day tour of legendary ruins in Greece (thus the title). Georgia (Vardalos), a former history instructor whose stopgap job as a tour guide has extended for years. She hates her job, fusses because she's being assigned "second-class" tourists, and finds fault with everything in Greece that isn't at least 2,000 years old. Various Greeks -- her boss, her bus driver -- tell her that she has lost her kefi, a Greek word meaning joie de vivre or mojo or the ability to not annoy the audience. She just needs to relax and get laid and stop worrying her pretty head about things.
Two big comedies will battle it out this weekend at the box office, with Will Ferrell and his family-friendly adventure Land of the Lost having the distinct advantage over the underdog The Hangover. Can word of mouth and strong reviews (81% on Rotten Tomatoes [1]) give it the boost it needs? Nia Vardalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame also returns to the big screen this weekend with romantic comedy My Life in Ruins, while Sam Mendes's new dramedy Away We Go opens on just a handful of screens. Also in select theatres: the Maria Bello thriller Downloading Nancy, and Tennessee starring Mariah Carey! What will you be checking out?
The Hangover [2]
Land of the Lost [3]
My Life in Ruins [4]
Away We Go [5] (limited)
Downloading Nancy [6] (limited)
Seraphine [7] (limited)
Tennessee [8] (limited)
Unmistakable Child [9] (limited)
[1] http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10010667-hangover/
[2] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119646/
[3] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457400/
[4] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0865559/
[5] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1176740/
[6] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411323/
[7] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1048171/
[8] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770814/
[9] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286798/
If you saw ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ and you liked it then you’re probably going to see ‘My Life in Ruins’ as well. If this describes you, then you’ll probably like this movie, but ...
Video Interview: My Life In Ruins Director Donald Petrie
Wednesday, June 3, 2009 7:35 PM | From Cinema Blend
Donald Petrie is a guy who knows women. He admits himself, half-jokingly, "I guess there's a lot of woman in me." But there has to be something going on for a 55-year-old man to have directed such a string of female driven hits, from Mystic Pizza back in 1988 to How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Petrie is back this summer with My Life in Ruins, in which My Big Fat Greek Wedding star Nia Vardalos heads to Greece herself, ...
"My Life in Ruins" clips added! See interview and film clips from the Fox Searchlight Comedy.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009 6:56 PM | From MovieJungle
We have film clips and interview excerpts from Fox Searchlight Pictures' "My Life in Ruins," starring Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Harland Williams, Rachel Dratch, Marķa Botto, Alexis Georgoulis, Caroline Goodall, Sophie Stuckey and Brian Palermo.
Donald Petrie ("Just My Luck," "Welcome to Mooseport," "Miss Congeniality") directs the film from the screenplay written by Mike Reiss. Michelle Chydzik Sowa and Nathalie Marciano produce the film which sees theatres on June 5th. The comedy premiered in France at the Cannes Film Market and most recently at the Tribeca Film Festival.
See interviews with Nia Vardalos, Rachel Dratch and others as well as clips from the film.
From Nia Vardalos, writer and star of MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, comes the hilarious comedy MY LIFE IN RUINS. Georgia (Nia Vardalos) has lost her kefi (Greek for mojo). Discouraged by her lack of direction in life, she works as a travel guide, leading a rag-tag group of tourists as she tries to show them the beauty of her native Greece. While opening their eyes to an exotic foreign land, she too begins to see things in new waysfinding her kefi in the process.
Video Interview: My Life In Ruins Star Rachel Dratch
Wednesday, June 3, 2009 3:28 PM | From Cinema Blend
Among the motley crew taking a bus tour of Greece in My Life in Ruins, there are a lot of international stereotypes. The drunk Australians, the frigid British, the overly friendly Canadians, the sultry Spanish, and of course... the ugly Americans. SNL alumna Rachel Dratch and Harland Williams are given that job, talking loudly, refusing to learn any Greek and buying cheap trinkets, but eventually coming together with the rest of the bus at the end.
Dratch says she took ...
"My Life in Ruins" clips added! See interview and film clips from the Fox Searchlight Comedy.
We have film clips and interview excerpts from Fox Searchlight Pictures' "My Life in Ruins," starring Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Harland Williams, Rachel Dratch, Marķa Botto, Alexis Georgoulis, Caroline Goodall, Sophie Stuckey and Brian Palermo.
Donald Petrie ("Just My Luck," "Welcome to Mooseport," "Miss Congeniality") directs the film from the screenplay written by Mike Reiss. Michelle Chydzik Sowa and Nathalie Marciano produce the film which sees theatres on June 5th. The comedy premiered in France at the Cannes Film Market and most recently at the Tribeca Film Festival.
See interviews with Nia Vardalos, Rachel Dratch and others as well as clips from the film.
From Nia Vardalos, writer and star of MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, comes the hilarious comedy MY LIFE IN RUINS. Georgia (Nia Vardalos) has lost her kefi (Greek for mojo). Discouraged by her lack of direction in life, she works as a travel guide, leading a rag-tag group of tourists as she tries to show them the beauty of her native Greece. While opening their eyes to an exotic foreign land, she too begins to see things in new waysfinding her kefi in the process.
