He said, she said: Critics take a Mars-vs.-Venus look at 'Dark Knight,' 'Mamma Mia'
In theory, there are films that appeal to either male sensibilities or female ones, which may explain why something like the recent "Sex and the City" film can make $140 million with a predominantly female audience.
And it also shows why a decidedly male-skewing thriller like "Wanted" can bust past the $100-million mark as well.
So, in the interest of science — well, in the interest of something interesting — Deseret News film critic Jeff Vice and theater critic Erica Hansen decided an experiment was in order.
The idea was the two would watch the same two movies — one of them a supposed "chick flick," the other a big "manly movie" — and then see what, if anything, they agreed upon. Here are the results:
'The Dark Knight'
• THE MOVIE: "The Dark Knight" (rated PG-13). A sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins," starring Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader and Heath Ledger as his nemesis, the Joker.
• HE LIKED: It's dark. Really dark. In fact, it almost makes "Batman Begins" look like a Saturday morning cartoon. But that darkness is appropriate for this material, and Heath Ledger is amazing as the Joker. His performance really deserves all the early Oscar talk.
• HE DIDN'T LIKE: It's dark. Really dark. In fact, as disturbing as parts are, I wonder if the film should have gotten an R rating instead of PG-13. This is definitely not a kids film.
• SHE DIDN'T LIKE: Most of the movie. I'm sorry, but what happened? These movies used to be so much fun — some great action sequences, definitive good guys and bad guys and a funny line or two. This was so dreary. It felt horribly long, and it was horribly loud! By explosion No. 7,567 I was ready to bawl. That being said, if you are a Batman fan, you'll probably love the movie; the crowd sure did.
• THE CONSENSUS: Jeff thought it was dark ... in a really good way, though he thinks it's for more mature audiences (teenagers at least). Erica completely agrees with Jeff on one thing: Don't take the kids. "If you can't drive yourself to the theater, you might be too young."
Interesting side note: "I left the movie feeling so edgy," Erica said. "I snapped at my friend over the phone, talked loudly (louder than normal), didn't find anything funny, drove like a bat out of somewhere, and had to go home and find something sweet to eat to take the edge off.
Recent comments
Also, I'm not sure what Erica was thinking when she said there...
LG | July 19, 2008 at 2:14 p.m.
Breathless: The reason you probably won't see people singing...
LG | July 19, 2008 at 2:09 p.m.
It was great -- the whole theater I was in cheered and sang along...
loved Mama Mia | July 19, 2008 at 10:57 a.m.
