My Pet Peeve

Sometimes the advertising for movies resembles a giant con. I was watching an advertisement for "Love & Other Drugs," which has gotten pounded by critics. During the ad, positive blurbs about the movie appear.

The blurbs are in giant font, while critics' names are the size that appears on the conditions' section of a credit card application.

This bugs me to no end, because it's so underhanded. OK, so the blurb isn't from anyone special or from one of those yes-men critics who like everything. That's what I used to think, but then I realized: I know a lot of very good film critics who work for small or below-the-radar publications. What if one of them liked "Love & Other Drugs"? Now it's like they're being diminished.

That's not the worst tactic, which would be the "here's what ordinary people thought" gimmick, when people are interviewed in the multiplex. There's no possible reason that movie will be good. You're telling me no one in the marketing department could get a morning show moron to give 'em some empty praise?

Anyway, here's how I would promote "Love & Other Drugs."

See two of today's hottest young stars...Naked. Gyllenhaal! Hathaway! Love & Other Drugs!

That works pretty well, right?