Lars and the Real Girl Prays for Support from Church Groups
If we were to ask our good buddy Mel Gibson what the secret to success is in the movie industry, I’m pretty sure he’d say something about hard work and perseverance. The thing is, we all know that’s a load of crap because the real secret to success is figuring out how to get the church behind your movies! It seems that some people in Hollywood are realizing what a powerful demographic these Christian groups can be, and they’re starting to target churches as key part of the marketing campaigns for their films. This kind of approach makes sense for movies like The Nativity Story and Evan Almighty, but what about a heartwarming story of a man who is in love with his sex doll? Hey, why not!
Surprisingly enough, according to an article at Reuters, it seems that the distributor of Lars and the Real Girl is planning to hold promo screenings for church leaders, and that they are getting a positive response from Christians so far. They’re even hoping that some pastors will use the movie for inspiration for a sermon topic. But how is it possible that religious groups would lend support to a movie that seems so risque? Well apparently the main character Lars is a kind and gentle man who attends church regularly… he just happens to have a few social issues as well. The movie is also only rated PG-13, which leads me to wonder if the trailer has misrepresented the film. Maybe this isn’t the promising movie I thought it was? On the other hand, the flick received rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival (even from Film Junk’s own Greg Gaspari!) and it seems like it has potential to be one of the surprise indie hits of the fall. Lars and the Real Girl opens in a small number of theatres this weekend, before rolling out further later this month.
Comments (5)
“Maybe this isn’t the promising movie I thought it was?”
What??
Posted by mike on October 12th, 2007Why would any of this make you think that?
Well I’m exaggerating obviously, but Evan Almighty was one of the worst movies of the year in my opinion and hearing about potential religious undertones in this movie does make me think twice about it. I still trust all the positive reviews I’ve heard though.
Posted by Sean on October 12th, 2007I want to get to a point in my life where I am billed as ‘Film Junk’s own’!
Posted by Henrik on October 12th, 2007I was going to say EXACTLY the same thing “mike” did.
This is Gosling in a totally original idea for a film. No doubt it will be good (especialyl with the positive buzz – as you mentioned – out of TIFF. Just because it doesn’t drop 50 f-bombs and and the guy goes to church it might not be good?
Posted by Andrew James on October 12th, 2007Maybe not 50 f-bombs, but I find a movie needs at least 5 for me to give it a chance.
The main point of the post was just that it’s weird for them to look to church groups to support a movie about a sex doll. It did put the movie in a slightly new perspective for me, but I’m not seriously thinking it’s going to suck because of it.
Posted by Sean on October 14th, 2007Leave a Reply