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SUNDAY AM: The movie that George Clooney directed, starred in and overhauled the script for, Leatherheads, stumbled badly at the box office this weekend, making only $12.5 million from 1,769 theaters and finishing only No. 3. (Interestingly, the pic's studio, Universal, claimed it was No. 2, but every other Hollywood major had it as No. 3 behind Sony's 21 and Fox/Walden's Nim's Island.) The screwball comedy about the early days of football was seen in Hollywood as a referendum on Clooney's popularity at the box office. Because right now he is a big movie star but not a big box office star, and his hefty paydays in big studio projects like this definitely depend on the latter. (To be fair, few movie stars nowadays are reliably performing at the box office...)
Instead, Sony's 21 casino caper fended off tough competition from three newcomers in the marketplace to score its second straight win as the #1 movie in North America. It earned a $15.1 million weekend, down only 37% from its opening last weekend, for a new cume of $46.5 million.
Family fare Nim's Island, starring Abigail Breslin and Jodie Foster for Fox/Walden, junped into 2nd place with $13.3 million thanks to strong Saturday kiddie matinees and a wide theater count of 3,513.
Another studio newcomer in release, horror pic The Ruins from DreamWorks /Paramount earned $7.8 million this weekend from 2,812 venues for 5th place behind #4 Horton Hears A Hoo!, the Dr. Seuss pic from Fox, which took in $9.1 million for the weekend finishing with a giant cume of $131M.
But Hollywood was aghast that Clooney couldn't open his movie. (As one studio mogul said to me, "He's no Will Smith.") The ability of superstars to generate domestic gross by putting North American moviegoers into theater seats is why studios hire them in the first place. Now Leatherheads is the latest of his non-ensemble big studio movies released wide to open $16 million domestic (Michael Clayton, Intolerable Cruelty, Solaris, Three Kings, Out Of Sight, The Peacemaker, One Fine Day...) and a few times not even half that. 
True, Clooney has received much critical acclaim for his smaller movies in limited release like Good Night and Good Luck and Syriana. But he doesn't get hefty paydays for those. In this case, he has only himself to blame for the lackluster financial performance of this latest movie. In addition to directing and starring, Clooney also did a major overhaul of the script to transform Leatherheads into a screwball comedy. [But a Writers Guild arbitration over screen credits went 2-to-1 against Clooney, who's still furious about it. See my previous story here.] And yet that's why the comedy seemed weak to top critics who gave it only 36% positive reviews. According to Rotten Tomatoes, "despite a good premise and strong cast, this pro football romcom is half screwball and half fumble."
After coming in at a cost of $60 million, the Universal pic was nurtured by a smart marketing campaign that combined football, romance, comedy and nostalgia. Clooney also won studio kudos for hyping the hell out of the movie, eking out every ounce of PR possible. The comedy had been tracking well with older men and older women, and strong with young males and teens. Universal had been hopeful for high teens and with luck even $20 million. But it was not to be.
The rest of the Top 10 were holdovers.
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I could never understand the “Clooney is a movie star” assertion. Just saying it doesn’t make it so. Hollywood’s fawning over him is sickening. His smugness is unbelieveable. I cannot sit in a theater and watch him in a movie. His persona in films seems to be misogynist. When he held a press conference to rage against the press after Princess Diana’s death – My GOD! The guy’s arrogance is breathtaking. Who does he think he is? He’s a goddam TV actor. This is why Hollywood is so fucked. When you’ve got TV actors thinking they are auteurs, we’re fucked. This probably explains why his movies make no money. Why would the average Joe spend 10 bucks to see this arrogant actor when he may lose his job at the factory tomorrow? Sorry to rant, but Clooney has been bugging me for a while. Note to Hollywood, you want butts in the seats? Raise the standards back up. If you keep to this road, you’ll be trying to tell us next year that this years winner of Survivor should win an Oscar for best actor. Jebus Christ. I gotta go lie down now.
Of course he can’t open movie even through he is a perceived as a movie star and well known, he just like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie neither can open a movie on name alone, unless its mainstream movie, this movie just is not for the masses
Look, I love Clooney and he’s made some great movies. But you know why they’re great? Because they’re not commercial (Oceans trilogy being the exception, of course.)
If Uni wanted a hit football movie with George, they should’ve made it modern. Look at today’s demographics. Not saying what makes money is always great (quite the opposite), but Clooney doesn’t go for the popcorn films.
Leatherheads was too “strange,” a comment I’ve heard from family and friends. Renee Zellweger isn’t a star either.
Good Night and Good Luck, Michael Clayton, Syriana, Oh Brother Where Art Thou: some of the best films of the past decade. But George needs to go make some more Danny Ocean movies to keep his paycheck.
Hey mla28,
Guess what. Life isn’t a fairy tale. Actors get to have press conferences and presidents who can’t put a sentence together get to rape the country for trillions of our children’s tax money. I listen to Cloony talking about Di over that hillbilly telling us he’s got the economy under control any day. But I don’t get the Oscars reference. This year’s winners were very deserving. It’s not like Scary movie 4 was recognized as a actual film. And survivor is a TV show. It doesn’t qualify for an Oscar. Get a clue.
Clooney doesn’t open movies unless they are high concept and big ensemble casts.
GQ magazine just ran a story on that at the end of last year detailing all of his failures (and they have been many) even a bunch of the $100 million (international) movies were failures since the budgets were well over that number.
I like him as an actor, but if I was a studio head, I sure wouldn’t invest a ton of money in a film expecting him to open it up gangbusters.
I think George Clooney is talented. I thought he did a great job in Michael Clayton.
His career is mostly media hype that wasn’t justified by a hit movie that he can call his own. All of his hits are ensembles, counting Batman and Robin. That’s not a really good track record.
To me, him and Brad Pitt are the same, as far as boxoffice clout is concerned, in that they don’t have it, but are highly rated by the media and tabloids (Brad Pitt is worse though, and that’s probably why he hooked up with Angelina).
I’m not saying he is not talented. But clearly the public isn’t paying to see his movies. Media is mostly responsible for his A-list reputation and salary. He probably have a really good agent because he was able to con the studios of their money.
George Clooney is Hollywood’s movie star, he’s not the audience’s movie star. He’s spent the past ten years cultivating the media while doing nothing really for the audience outside of the Ocean’s # movies.
Plus there are the incidents of smugness and arrogance, that the media let’s slip, but audience doesn’t forget, like his Princess Di press conference, or his rather nasty joke about Charlton Heston’s Alzheimer’s. And then saying that Heston deserved it for being president of the NRA, forgetting Heston’s often overlooked civil rights work. The media quickly forgave him, because it was the politically correct thing to do, but the audience saw Clooney cruelly picking on an old man with a distinguished career dying of a terminal illness.
Hollywood has forgotten that in order to be a good box office draw a “star” needs the goodwill of the audience. Clooney’s career is built on the goodwill of the media, and hoping that they could spin success for him. But the media’s power to spin just isn’t what it used to be.
Um, wait a minute. Brad Pitt can’t open a movie? He busted his ass pr wise for Babel and that movie in which he was a supporting player has earned well over 137 million dollars with no budget.
The Assassination of Jesse James opened in 5 art movie plexis!!!!!! Why? Because Warners pimped the shit out of Michael Clayton instead when James was a far superior film in every way. Why? Pitt took his shingle to Paramount. Whaaa, whaaaa He left me. Sound familiar? And as far as Jolie is concerned The Good Shepherd wasn’t her film it was Matt Damon’s. It’s grossed close to 100 million. Beowulf the same thing, wasn’t her film but the studio put her out there in both of those films as the headliner when she wasn’t. Beowulf has grossed 197 million and that doesn’t count DVD receipts. If you’re talking about AMH, well that’s a different animal. American’s do not go to anything even remotely associated w/911. Paramount f’d up the release date on that one by putting in out in June. To date that movie has grossed over 36 million w/boxoffice and DVD rentals w/the DVD rentals being the majority of revenue. Jolie over the past three years has only picked supporting roles. She’s got Wanted coming out in June which looks like it will be huge and The Changeling w/Eastwood. Her first real starring role in 4 yrs. Her movies do better then Clooney’s. lol
George Clooney the last movie star as he and his people like to ram down our throats can’t outside of Oceans do those types of numbers on his own. He’s off putting to a large group of people. George the big movie star who got an Oscar nomination couldn’t bring in ANY Oscar viewership the past three yrs in a row. Face it, the general public just isn’t that into him. heh
Why release a football movie in April? That’s a big problem with this.
The Ocean’s movies STUNK! George Clooney is a monotone, a talentless f$#&! And his political rants just reveal more about his lack of character and egotistical need for attention.
ps I like the way the Bushhater posted as anonymous. Gutless wonders, all of them.
I forgot to add that many Americans these days refuse to support ANY anti-American left wing Michael Moore types. Look at the film industry and the newspaper business (eg., the NYT).
When will these celebrities learn to shut their mouths and just do their jobs? This guy’s political stances turns people off.
When I am at work I can’t just start running my pie hole about all my political beliefs. If I did I would be fired. It has no place in my work environment. Why don’t actors understand this? Whether it’s Clooney or the Dixie Chicks, they just don’t understand that what they do is a job and airing out your beliefs is bad for business and your career. If you want to run your mouth than be prepared for poor CD and box office sales and don’t complain.
I take no objection to what he believes. He is free to to think what he wants. But do it on the job and you are going to piss your customers off. It won’t be long before ole’ George throws a for sale sign up on his mansion in Italy if he keeps sit up.
I don’t jump up and down when I see Clooney’s name, but I don’t think “Leatherheads” was properly marketed or researched to see if an audience would care about a football comedy from the 1930s (?).
In other words, regardless of the star, this movie appears to be fumbling.
Hmmmm…. You gotta nurture your brand. Clooney hasn’t. To most movie goers he’s a political preacher man. That is not a good brand for the 50% his preaching pisses off, and for 50% of the rest who want entertainment not sermons in their screw ball comedies.
Too many don’t trust Clooney’s brand to deliver what they are buying for a movie ticket. Pity that actions have consequences, but they do, and for a lot of people they hear”Clooney” and the Dixie Chicks springs to mind. Whatever happened to them anyway? Do they still open movies… or whatever?
George Clueless – please, you couldn’t pay me to go see one of his bombs. I can’t stand him, when I have, by accident, seen him try to act, it was stiff and uninspiring. When I see he is in a movie, I pass right by.
Hollywood just gets weaker by the day. I am not interested in their politics and views of the world. I just want to be entertained when I go to see a movie, not lectured to. I want to see actors who view their careers as acting and don’t pretend their wealth and limited education gives them credibility in science, economics, foreign affairs, etc.
George Clooney..bad actor…worked a bit on the small screen….needs help to draw a crowd for a movie….proves Hollywood is in a dreamworld of their own.
I saw the movie. I liked it. I’ve never seen much of a correlation between what critics say and the movie itself.
well well only 20 years to determine one thing. One thing… hmmm what’s that one thing… TALENT. He’s got just enough to fool a ton of you. But, thank goodness, not enough to fool most/enough of you. He’s so average.
I have to wonder why “anonymous” would use a movie review comment box to ooze his/her boring venom over the president when the subject is a charismatic albiet unlikeable actor. I dont expect my presidents to be glib, nor do I expect them to be slick and easygoing in front of a camera. I expect my actors do be. I don’t expect my actors to be calling press conferences to vent about world events or foreign policy, I expect my presidents to. So “anonyous”, hillybilly or not, the president is doing his job just fine thank you, it’s Clooney who isn’t and you should get your head out of your ass and smell the coffee.
ditto…well written as I could not agree more.
AGD
Hey anonymous you do not make sense! Nor do you know what you say! “Our childrens tax money”? What….the money our children will need when the next democrat raises taxes?
You cannot denegrate, alienate and ridicule 50% of the paying audience because they have conservative values, and expect them to PAY to watch your performance. Thats a FACT jack !!!
Well, statistics (albeit incomplete) speak for themselves:
Tom Cruise $6.2 billion
Will Smith $4.9 billion
Johnny Depp $4.7 billion
Brad Pitt $4.2 billion
Ben Stiller $3.6 billion
George Clooney $2.8 billion
source: the-numbers.com
Could it be that many Americans, like me, find the only way to show the man we don’t condone his political views is by not attending his movies? I personally know many people who feel this way.
Clooney a movie star??? Only in the mind of the Hollywood hothouse. They need to get outside of their bubble more often and see what the real America thinks. I am sick of elites in Hollywood thinking they are the deciders for the rest of us.
hey anonymous –
mla28 gave his two cents. What I laugh at is it only takes you two sentences to wig out on the president.
I thought this was about George Clooney or this snoozer “Leatherheads” that he starred in. Whatever you think of Clooney is meaningless (that is for everybody). However, your inability to stick to the subject matter (or more directly) aim for the president makes you a giant pussy.
I bet you couldn’t go on a Betty Crocker website blogging about cake recipes for two seconds wthout blaming the president for the price of vanilla extract spiraling out of control. Probably tell everyone it has to do with some fetilizer embargo on some developing nation that our “nazi in chief” has it in for.
Clooney is a bore and is chock full of himself. Just like 99% of Hollywood. And mla28 is right on with the ridiculous rants regarding Clooney. Hey, you like him. Fair enough. Then why don’t you stick to the subject matter at hand and leave the president “playa hating” to the politcal blogs?
and as far as me getting off topic – chicken or the egg – you douche
The problem is for these clooney types is that they lose 40% of their potential audience whenever they take a public side of a controversal political issue like gun control, abortion, global warming, affirmative action etc. or support a political figure (mostly Liberal left leaning types). MAinstream media props them up because their views support their agenda as well. Now they’re all going down the tubes, the media and the superficial so called stars. People who have mediocre abilities and and perform poorly at the box office need every soul they can possibly find to buy tickets to their projects. Their arrogance is such because they’re celebrities they think their views on public matters is more important than those who may think the opposite of them. Thusly they bite off their nose to spite their face and their stupidity and arrogance is starting to show big time….Enough to diminish their results by 40% less than it could’ve been….
It’s always a delight to see the work of a self-annointed priest from the propaganda office of Hollywood, the left-wing Vatican, fail miserably.
Well, statistics (albeit incomplete) speak for themselves:
WORLD-WIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS
Tom Cruise $6.2 billion
Will Smith $4.9 billion
Johnny Depp $4.7 billion
Brad Pitt $4.2 billion
Ben Stiller $3.6 billion
George Clooney $2.8 billion
source: the-numbers.com
So now we’re equating the general public’s taste with quality in movies?
Yes, his big numbers are for the Ocean’s series. First they’re not original but remakes. Second, they’re crap. American Idol gets big numbers. Transformers gets big numbers. Anybody seeing a pattern here? Please, let’s at least try to call a turd…. well, a turd.
The problem with Clooney is he is not very consistent. One bad movie, then one good movie and then back to one bad movie again. In my opinion the best movie Clooney has done so far is one in which he wasn’t even the star – “Good night and good luck”. Many of his other films that he has either acted in or directed pale by comparison. While Clooney certainly has the looks to be a movie star, that is not enough. You have to have something more to have a lifelong career in the movies. Many stars of today do not have that missing element whereas stars of yesteryear had it by the bushel.
Well I have read a lot of the comments and agree with most of them. The one thing that is missing that I think affects his box office numbers is his outspoken political remarks about the administration and other political causes that alienate parts of the movie going public. If you look back to the great stars of the past and some of the stars of today like Clint Eastwood, Will Smith , Harrison Ford, etc I think you get the picture, The one thing they have in common other than talent and box office draw is they keep there political beliefs to themselves and not on there sleeves.
It’s great to see so many here proving my theory about no talent actors spouting politics and hurting what little career they may have. Too bad the George Clooney’s of this world make as much as they do. It would be great to see him as a janitor in some Beverly Hills hotel and Michael Moore as a garbageman (oh wait… he already is)!
political freaks,hollywood haters, etc –
why do you keep visiting this site
it’s an industry site
if you loathe the industry, don’t come here of your own accord
there are ample places online where you can properly vent your hate and irrational “thoughts.”
the discourse here always spins way out of the productive, civil arena into cuckoo-ville when the Bushies descend with their one-note fixations.
Did it ever occur to anyone that MAYBE a lot of regular folks have had it with Clooneys knee jerk anti-American crap?
Day and night you see this creep ranting about Bush.
Did he say ONE WORD when Van Gogh”s great grandson had his HEAD CUT OFF for his artistic expression ????
NO,,,,,,,,,,not one word. I puke when I see commments concerning Clonney”s “courage” in making a movie about some crap that happened 55 years ago with Sen McCarthy…….how about showing some REAL cajones and make a movie about the barbarians who want to kill folks for drawing a CARTOON!……..drop dead
I think Hollywood people overestimate the impact of “stars” (or people who are known). As someone living in the heartland (Illinois), I can tell you that I choose movies based on the story more than the actors in it. True, if a well-known actor (like Clooney) is starring in a movie then it gets my attention, but if the story doesn’t sound good, then I’m certainly not going to waste my money or my time trekking out to the movie theater.
Who on earth wants to see a football story from the 30’s? I don’t care how much of the country you ride through on a train- it just doesn’t sound that interesting.
It was the same problem with Micheal Clayton. I still haven’t seen that movie because I don’t know what the hell it’s about. I may have liked it, I may not, but life’s too short to waste my time finding out, despite the great cast.
George Clooney deserves his “movie star” status. I’ve never read a press release or heard from his agent,
but my family looks forward to every Clooney film (and they don’t all get a wide release!!! trying to find a theatre showing THE GOOD GERMAN was not easy!), and we feel that he is one of the few actors today with the combination of depth and wide appeal that harkens back to the Edward G. Robinsons or James Cagneys of the past. ANY movie with Clooney in it is worth seeing because he resonates class and quality. One can see some little-known Cagney or Robinson movie on TCM and appreciate it as a quality piece of work that still holds interest today, even though it may have stiffed in its original release. Clooney’s non-Ocean films may not have the box-office power of teen gross-out epics, but it’s a solid body of work and Clooney needs no apologies. I never watch television or read gossip magazines, so I wouldn’t know how the media is pushing or not pushing Mr. Clooney. The work is what matters, and Clooney ALWAYS delivers the goods as an actor and has great appeal as a star. Thanks, Mr. Clooney—keep up the quality work.
If Clooney were a female actor, he would’ve been relegated back to tv long ago and branded “over the hill.”
He “charms” studio chiefs into greenlights but audiences aren’t showing up.
I’m a conservative and don’t give a rat’s arse about his politics.
I like Clooney’s potential. He should have been the next Cary Grant. If he had been handled right he would have been a good physical comedian and a good leading man, as Grant was.
I was excited when I first saw the previews, but then realized it was some stupid comedy that did not look the list bit funny. A good movie about the early origins of football would be a great flick. I will have to say I can’t stand Renee Z. either, nor is she in the least bit funny. The cast, script, and timing all set this up to be nothing other than a failure.
Hollywood Loves Clooney because he hates the United States. You know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. When Hollywood talks about loving this country it means it loves the opportunity to make money and the weather. But most people in Hollywood are ignorant of history or what this country even stands for. Clooney is college drop out. He is uneducated, like most entertainment people.
I’ve heard him speak plenty, unlike our President, he does a great job with public speaking. Also unlike our president, he is uneducated, hateful and ignorant about history. I, and many people I know, will never give a dime to anything he is connected to.
Brad Pitt is finished, too. He seems to realize that. He never quite made it to Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts status.
Jolie is simply not a movie star – she’s a tabloid star. She is dull on screen and does that same phony, affected embarrassing Russian-like accent for every role. Her serious non-campy roles tank. Her niche role is playing a female bad ass in a supporting role – this has served her, but grows thin with audiences.
Fear paralyzes studios from taking chances on fresh talent, instead of throwing too much money at undeserving and over-hyped celebs/tabloid fixtures.
Agencies have become bottom-line corporations, rarely interested in nurturing new talent.
Not surprised that Leatherheads won’t be number 1 this weekend. It’s a rainy Saturday on the east coast and a perfect day to take the kids to a matinee in the afternoon so Jodi it is! Clooney’s doing exactly the same thing he did w/Section 8. He’s deciding to star in all the films he’s producing. Clooney’s like Ben Affleck you can only take him in very, very small dosages and even then he needs other people around him. Otherwise, he’s just plain annoying. All these people calling Clooney a big international star put the crack pipe down. He WANTS to be big international star and he’ll make sure Stan keeps tell everyone he already is. Numbers don’t lie. (thanks stat man) He’s a very small fish in a very big ocean (pun intended)compared to those other big boys on that list.
The article says “So critical acclaim for his smaller movies in limited release like Good Night and Good Luck and Syriana may not be enough anymore.” Might not be enough? Might not be enough? Are you crazy? These two movies were Clooney’s proof that he is a whore for the left. Bingo…adios to over half the movie going public. George is handsome and fun to watch, but it’s still work for us to forget the stupid things the MAN says and focus on the CHARACTER…a lota work. Will Smith knows his job is to entertain and we flock to his movies and he gets paid nicely. These boneheads in Hollywood make the movies, but then forget that we decide where the money goes…sheesh…enough already.
Look if George Clooney is a good actor or not is not the point the point is just like many here have said, George (and many others) don’t understand that we want to see them act, or sing, or tell a joke, not go on and on about how they hate the war, or walmart, or big oil. nobody wants to see that when they just want have a good time and it’s costing them $10 or more to do it, don’t waste my money with your left wing dumbness. just make me laugh.
PS but like someone already said “1930’s football” whocares? do some reseach before you spend the studios money!
It’s nice to see another Clooney movie tank. Couldn’t happen to a finer jerk. When are the powers that be in Hollywood going to figure out a basic truth: When you’re politically “in-your-face” to half your audience, 50% or more of the audience is going to stay home, period. Not a very good business strategy. We vote with our dollars, everyday, with just cause.
I will never pay money to see films by Sean Penn, George Clooney, Tim Robbins, Danny Glover, and the like, and nor will anyone in my family. And it’s not because they’re radical liberal-socialists … there are many such radical liberal-socialists in Hollywood I’ll pay money to see … because they’re not in my face about it. They keep their dim-witted, puny views to themselves.
No, never, not one dollar of mine will ever be transferred from my wallet to theirs, so they can spit in my face, on my country, and monetarily support their mind-numbingly hostile organizations.
And, I’m not alone in this quasi-boycott of the hostile liberal-socialist left … in Hollywood, and elsewhere. Clooney is just one, lowly maggot; there are many others whose careers I’ve watched fall, or will fall, based soley on their “in-your-face” self-righteousness. Many of us out here love to watch these celebrities fall.
Clooney’s bad movie, Client #9, OJ jailed, Paris Freed, Whoopi and the View, all distractions. While mainstream media creates illusions, the gov’t steps on our throats by opening our mail, suspending habeas corpus, stealing private lands, banning books like “America Deceived” from Amazon, conducting warrantless wiretaps and starting wars for a foriegn gov’t.
Write in Dr. Ron Paul and end this madness.
Final link (until Google Books bends to pressure and drops the title):
America Deceived (book)
Also wanted to add that US box office numbers only make up 37% of to grand total. It’s not just about opening in America anymore. An actor has to be able to do both and more so overseas now. So, to try and put Clooney into that category is ridiculous. The only time he’s been able to open large overseas is when a guy named Brad is in the credits. Sorry, but true.
Hollywood is desperate for more stars, so they are trying to fabricate one out of Clooney. He’s just not the total package. He shows little if any real romantic ability, and has always had too cocky of a demeanor. Not attractive, not enough vulnerability.
I miss the young Burt Reynolds…He was more handsome than Clooney but the main difference — Burt was funny.
Clooney mugs for the Camera and ssys some unfunny remarks and the interviewer almost falls on the floor laughing at what I don’t know…Robins Willimas is the same, he babbles some unfunny sounds and the “entertainment reporter” laughs and laughs at nothing…..Hollywood needs more Burt Reynolds, John Waynes, Eduardo Verastegui, Guy Williams, James Caviezel, Elvis–Handsome men who don’t go around acting like they are better looking than everyone else and think they are funnier than everyone else…They just seemed like regular guys who just happen to be magnificently beautiful to look at.
There are 2 distinct marketing campaigns: one of a bunch of grizzled guys looking all angry n’ such and that’s fine, it’s the “romance” poster featuring what looks like Christina Applegate and some guy who looks like Clooney but with the facial skin of a 3 week year old baby that looks like it’s had 12 layers of makeup applied to it – what is that all about? It looks (a) phony and (b) like they’re trying to make him look in his early 30’s. Anyways: ultra phony and subtle things like that do stretch whatever credibility NBCU has to reach an audience. Do they really think younger viewers care about this old guy?
NBCU needs to think hard about who their audience is – this could have been interesting on a shoestring budget led by a lesser known actor, but dropping $60M in production costs on a polarizing mouthpiece like Clooney is just plain stupid and methinks someone should lose their preferred parking spot for this one.
Clooney is a legend in his own mind – he needs better advice – i.e. less is more, you need to hide your socialist politics a little better – audiences don’t care about your politics.
George is an obsequious snob living in the
Hollywood bubble.
Clooney is at the top of my list of actors not to see. When will these idiots realize that 90% of the country is pro-American and don’t like to hear actors run it down. They vote by staying away, in droves.
Stat Man,
Read the thread. Cloony has done 2.8 million with other ensemble casts. Check those top names. They CARRIED the movie and DREW the audience with THEIR name.
I’m sick of arrogance and hollywood actors who deem to lecture me on the wisdom of their political beliefs. They are actors and they need to shut up and act. At one time Hollywood made timeless movies with great stars who were talented and larger than life. It’s gone now, and we’re left with vapid intelligence and arrogant actors lecutring those they consider the unwashed. Pathetic. I won’t see a George Clooney vehicle, ever. Box office is the only thing Hollywood gets.
Clooney is a Brand, a Product, the same as Ford or IBM. The reason is that he represents his talent that has a worth to the public as does Lexus, or Re-Max Reality, therefore, any of his activities or attitudes enhance the Product or malign the Brand. The public wants to see Brands that they respect, and not pay hard-earned money to spend time with a Product that has offended them.
When the actor uses their Product to rail about a political, or Social event as Jane Fonda did/does, they create enemies that understand the only reason this person can insult them is because that they are given Face Time because they are a Product. The ONLY reason they are a Product is that people pay to view that Product. So why does the Movie Industry think that the public will pay to see a product that insults the public with their attitude.
The public is not dumb, some of these “Star Products” only have a High School education and have done nothing in life except to grab attention in a cause they have no qualification in talking about…
Simply put, when the Product or Brand presents their attitude, Political, Religious, or about Society, they often show their stupidity, and offend 50% of the public that will not pay to take abused from this person again. How far has Jane Fonda’s career gone? I will never pay to see anything she does, nor will my family! How many people has Clooney offended?
If you want to sell your Talent/Product, people will not pay if they have been insulted. Go ask the Dixie Chicks’.
The respondants are right as far as I am concerned. I will NOT support someone who pretends to know the answers to our country’s faults (amplified in Hollywood fashion) and foists their opinion and influence upon a population whose focus and intellect has already been damaged by the Media. I feel this way whether that person is George Clooney, Al Gore, Jerry Falwell, Rush Limbaugh or the person who rings the register at WalMart. The Media people who make movies, TV, News, Music et al will someday get this message…they should stick to their core business. If they want to espouse Politics, then put their money where their mouth is, quit their day job and run for office with all of the risks attendant, but until then, shut up and work.
3:41, Doncha know everything is Bush’s fault.
Bravo for summing up the size of your little pea brain.
And next time, stay on subject.
It’s about the MOVIE. Most of the movies made in the past several years SUCK. Contrary to popular belief Clooney isn’t all that talented. If Hollywood and Clooney types want to make money making movies, I suggest they try making some watchable movies instead of the crap they’ve been producing.
Few people watch or listen to the Hollywood elitists anymore. Get a clue. The big box office crowd are youngsters and teens on date night. They lost main stream America viewers long ago and it will be a long dry spell before they win them back again, if ever. There is life outside of Hollywood.
While I agree HW is out of touch with the main stream I really don’t think people make the decision not to see someone’s movie because of their political and/or religious beliefs, unless the film they’re in is a propaganda storyline for those said beliefs.
People don’t go to George’s films because there is something about him that people just do not connect with. Tom Cruise with all his crazy is still the biggest international movie star there is. People connect to him. What’s going to be interesting is when Burn After Reading comes out. I’m not sure the public can withstand more Clooney mugging for the camera and talking about his man love for Brad Pitt. But my guess is, that’s exactly how the studio will play it. It’ll be a Clooney/Pitt film even though Brad’s a supporting player.
If the numbers are as low as they appear they’re going to be Clooney’s got to be shitting himself and at the same time he needs to seriously re-think the direction of Smoke House
Hey anonymous (coward) April 5th @ 3:41am,
Even the 9-11 commission pegged Saddam as a threat given the UN not the US, did inventory WMD in 1991-1995.
And now recently withing the last two weks we learned that Saddam s intelligent services had a relationship with Al Quiada senior members…the problem is we just dont in what capacity.
We also dont know what happened to all the WMD inventoried by the UN.
But the point remains after allowing terrorist organizations (any of them) to run unchecked for decades and allowing other nations to fund and support them, WE GOT HIT. Saddam was known for financing Hezbollah terrorists in Israel, and his seemingly disregard for Iraqii lives that he hit with WMD himself…so it wasnt too much of stretch to say to this malcontent and threat Saddam (who was hooting at our sons and daughters who patrolled the no-fly zone), that if he continued to block UN inspectors we would come in and settle the matter. We also know know as of two months ago, that Saddam, thought we were bluffing, because how much of a pussy Clinton had been, and that the first Bush didnt seize the country. he was more worried about Iran, and his bluff to us, was intended to make the Iranians think twice about invading him, lest he have WMD.
So the reality is George Bush Jr (old stumble tooth), would have been impeachable if he left Saddam alone and Saddam later sold or support any terrorists that attacked us, thats a fact…because the POTUS constitutional duty is to defend US against all enemies foreign and domestic..leaving saddam unchecked would have been a real high crime against the people of this nation. So stop your liberal emotional drivel and GET WITH THE FACTS, dont ignore them, GET WITH THEM. The fact is Al Quiada wants Iraq, they are pouring a huge investmentinto getting it. Iran also wants Iraq they too are pouring a huge investment into getting it. Now both these scum bags have killed US boys and girls (our kids, fathers, mothers, and relatives)…and all libs can say is run…run away. I submit, you should all move to Jacgues Chirac’s France…its where all the cowards run.
We’re sick of all the trashy gross-out films, too – Stiller, Apatow, etc.
Old-school charm needs a serious comeback, it’s just that Clooney doesn’t seem genuine about it, it’s a persona which is why he goes apeshit over any press he doesn’t control with an iron fist.
hi i’m from Canada, just want to know why american movies cost so much to make. 60 million for one movie, holy cow, up here, that’s enough to make a hundred movies…good ones. hollywood suffers from too much money not enough heart and soul.
Clooney is cute funny and smart but when i hear he’s runs a casino on the side…i’m turned off.
hollywood is not a business, it’s a racket…was it ever a bunch of artsy fartsy people coming together to reflect on their own nature? a long time ago maybe.
what does ‘open big’ mean?
also, i think celebrities and the paparazzi eat from the same table, why are there so many food fights in LaLa land?
eat your food, don’t throw it. keep respect for each other. keep the drugs, spies and hydrogen peroxide out of hollywood.
i don’t like Britney Spears, however as a young child she was very talented, too bad those who guided her, guided her straight into the can and not into a long and properous career. hollywood eats it’s own.
sick and tired of hearing about celebrities with drug problems…i want to see them grow into mature happy well balanced individuals…not in rehab at the ripe old age of 23.
YUK! YUK! YUK!
in a kinda of way, this is good because Grassroots Theatre Festivals are cropping up everywhere because there’s nothing worthwhile to watch at the movies. We all want to see our own reflections on the screen, not the reflections of drug dealers, arms dealers or nefarious types who have money to bankroll a media blitz to blow the little artists out of the arena.
get chicks back onto the movie screens, not drugged up, bleached bimbos or twisted chicks…i mean decent, intelligent women of all shapes and colors…they will bring the audiences back into the movies houses. i would bet money on it.
Comment by A.
“it’s an industry site”
Hey A. you’d think the industry would be interested in knowing why the movies fall flat with the viewing public. The people posting here are trying to give the industry a clue. It will be ignored because the industry is more partisan and political than these commenters could ever hope to be.
I don’t understand why one movie makes Clooney less than a star. How can a #2 movie be a flop? And if it isn’t top-rated, it is more likely due to the subject matter and stupid clips I’ve seen. And why does an actor’s politics make any difference to anyone?
But here is what is even more interesting – Adam Carolla has a romantic comedy out right now called ‘The Hammer.’ Only a limited release on the West Coast. It is getting reviews with critics and audience and doing better per screen than Drillbit.
Hollywood – release this movie!
George Clooney — ignorant human, horrible actor!!
To Hollywood:
Do not let the comments of an obnoxious LUNATIC MINORITY dictate the movies you make.
These right-wing loonies, who inexplicably keep trolling an industry site, do not speak to the preponderance of levelheaded audiences.
The issue is not the politics of a movie, or of a performer, or of “Hollywood” as the loons like to cartoonishly label the business.
The issue is simply doing quality scripts, taking a chance on unknown talent – actors, directors, etc. Male AND female. There’s so much sexism in the biz, but you are cutting out 50% of the population who can make hits, and who will pay money to see films.
Of course this movie sucks. Sports based movies have done poorly for years. When will the movers and shakers of Hollywood realize we only want movies about gay cowboys and Mr. Limpet
Regular guys just don’t buy the ultra liberal, fashionably thin, metrosexual Clooney as an early football era “leatherhead”. Sorry Hollywood, there are still regular Joe’s out here.
I don’t know what the big attraction to George Clooney is. I think it’s the media who are in love with George. He’s not that good an actor and when he starts talking politics he’s even more nauseating.
Just for shits and giggles lets look at what Clooney’s produced.
Leatherheads-
Michael Clayton
Half Line of Timothy Berezin
A Scanner Darkly
Rumor Has It
Syriana
The Big Empty
Far From Heaven
Welcome to Collinwood
Insomnia
Rock Star
The Jacket
Criminal
I won’t even include the tv crap. Yeah, he’s brilliant. LMAO
I found the movie to be hilarious. We need a good ole fashion comedy..this was it.
I think a lot of negative comments on Clooney is simply because he is one of those far left Hollywood liberals. Fair enough. But the movie was great!
Hmmm… Movie about football from a pompus leftie. Gonna do well with the football crowd? Hmmm…
He should try some movie about some “metro” guy trying to “save the planet”. Like Leo did when he went to Vietnam (Thailand?) and trashed some beach in real life.
At the end of the day, somehow, someway this guy gets paid for the stinkers he makes. Strange days.
I dont like this guy!
When i watch a movie he is in, i see George Clooney..
i tired watching oceans but i couldnt get past George Cloony.
When you watch say, even the cheesy Rocky movies, you get into ROCKY…not Stallone,
OR watching any will smith movie you get into the character.
Clooney shows up on set..says the lines, and boom thinks he is a movie star..he is not.
This guy reminds me of another big TV star who left show, thinking he was a giant star..faded and came back to TV.
Clooney has never, and never will be a BIG star..
as for his political ranting…come on..the doods ego writes checks his fame cannot cash.
Americans, all have political views, but when we go to the movies we want to be entertained…simple..
we want to see america WIN the wars.
we want to see America WIN
you can trash our political leaders all you want but as a whole..leave the America bashing out of the movies.
Clooney is ANOTHER of the undereducated/uneducated of Hollywood who try to tell the rest of us how we should think and live. These jerks forget that there are more folks in flyover country than there are in New York City or LA. WE determine who is going to be a box office draw and WE decide who won’t make it at the box office. It’s the sycophants in Hollywood who cannot say NO to a no-talent hack like Clooney. He is from my state (Kentucky) and other than the fawning media no one gives a crap about Clooney. In KY he rides on his aunt & Dad’s coattails.
Liberalism Hollywood style has morphed into an obnoxious religion. And to top it off, parishoners like George Clooney insist on wearing their obnoxious religion on their sleeve.
Just look at what these nutjobs accuse conservatives of being like. Then you will see exactly who they are.
We’re not Clooney fans but politics has nothing to do with it.
All you right wingers can ever talk about is Iraq, Bush, politics. Actually, you don’t talk. You rant and spew illiterate hate, not intelligent criticism.
Get some balance and culture in your life [and fiber in your diet]
Btw, what’s so offensive about Clooney speaking out against genocide in Darfur? Granted, we’re sick of self-important celebs campaigning for Presidential candidates, but that goes for Repubs and Dems.
A lot of these actors seem to have shit for brains when picking material to produce. Cruise’s produced the Mission’s, Vanilla Sky, The Last Samurai and Lions for Lambs but the rest are unforgettable.
Tom Hanks has been no better with his only big movie hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding , Polar Express Those things you do .He’s done better w/HBO and Band of Brothers and now John Adams.
Leo’s choices are worst with the Aviator being the only recognizable film.
Pitt on the other hand has done The Departed, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Time Travelers Wife, A Mighty Heart, The Assassination of Jesse James, God Grew Tired of Us, and is going to be doing World War Z, Pippa Lee, Undaunted Courage, etc. He seems to be the one who realizes you aren’t going to be in front of the camera for the rest of your life. His choices are varied and he only starred in one. Interesting.
Even Will Smith has had a few with Hitch, Pursuit of Happiness, I Robert
Star power can’t hide an unfunny, wanna-be screwball comedy. The marginally funny bits were all in the trailer. Why should I pay $15 to see this?
Must comment on this blog’s support for our idiot President, who plunged us into a costly, fruitless war to benefit his Big Oil patrons. Mission accomplished: $4 gas.
Yeah, I’m a Bush hater for good reasons. He’s done substantially more harm to America than Osama, but some deluded Republo-fascists still praise him. History will judge his monumental stupidities harshly, especially for the black hole of debt he’s created.
“Lady from the Midwest” is right.
People see a movie if the story is good and the movie is well done, not because of an actor. It’s the rare actor who can pull in a crowd just because of who they are. Julia Roberts did it for a while.
It’s the age-old paradox – studios are looking to hedge their bets, they are trying to find a guarantee for their gamble, but there is no guarantee except quality
Clooney is a puss, he couldn’t do a real days work!
He’s hollywoods stat, not mine! I don’t go to his movies or buy his dvd’s. If I see him on the news, I just turn it off.
I used to love George Clooney, but since he started running his mouth against the President, I can’t stand him. I will not watch him in anything.
I think ole George is at his best when he’s doing comedy but to tell you the truth, I will not go see him because of his politics. In fact, it is rare that I ever go watch a movie at a theater or on TV for that matter because they either have a liberl message, their movies stink or I can’t see the character past their personal political rhetoric. I won’t add to their wealth when they think America is so bad. If these people in Hollywood want people to go see them, then they should stop with their political venom, be actors and do something about the quality of their movies.
Hey George, ER is still filming – give the producers a call.
Seriously, I will not watch ANYTHING with Clooney in it. I just don’t like him and his ridiculous acting and head jerking tic.
Glad to see on this site there are others with sense who see Clooney for exactly what he is: a non-acting, ignorant, wishes he were Cary Grant, Hollywood whore. I think it’s disgusting that he has an Oscar win under his belt for cowtowing to the Hollwood elite kook fringe and that oscar was his reward.
FOOTBALL FAN: I liked your comment “A good movie about the early origins of football would be a great flick.”
That’s encouraging because I’ve written that script…a great story about the early days of college football. I want to make it for $10 million as an independent film. Sure, I need some Hollywood stars, but we want to use unknown fresh talent also, shoot in the South (not South California).
If you know anyone with $10m laying around, let me know!
I will never attend another George Clooney film, primarily because of his over-the-top political beliefs. This guy, a few years back, did far more than just spout the typical Hollywood left wing drivel. He made horribly disparaging remarks about several individuals, including the president, attacking one for having a deadly disease. These uneducated Hollwood twits just don’t get it. People pay to watch them perform. Most of these “stars” are simply not that intelligent; we don’t care what their thoughts are on foreign affairs, the economy, tax policy, etc. Very few of them have the educational background to understand any of these issues on anything more than a surface-level basis. Take a look at the careers of those who have been politically outspoken in Hollywood; most of them are struggling. Compare them to people like Will Smith and some others, who continue to enjoy great box office appeal. The media won’t connect the dots, but a rational person can. Every anti-war film has bombed, the latest being “Stop-loss”. And everytime one of these flics bombs, the media tries to explain it away in the most ridiculous manner. Now we’re told that it’s just because people are tired of war. So go ahead Hollywood, make a movie about American heroes doing something good in Iraq, saing lives freeing a population from a tyrant, etc. Lets see some films about bravery in battle, like we did during WWII. Produce movies like this and you will find that people are not “tired of” the Iraq War. Their tired of fellow-Americans who openly cheer for us to lose that war, that’s what they’re tired of.
I like George Clooney. I like his talent, his wit and I like to be dazzled by his stunning good looks. Most of all I like the fact that he seems to live his day-to-day life with a strong sense of decency and cares about the way he treats his fellow man.
His politics, though, put me off. While he comes across as textured and complex, his politics come across as simplistic and knee jerk.
“Good Night and Good Luck” is a good example. Aesthetically, I found it to be a wonderful movie. It was compelling to look at. The black and white cinematography, the set design, the costumes, the acting. It was very well directed and a gem in many ways.
But it was not just the cinematography that was black and white. So was the dumbed down self-righteous perspective of its politics. (IMO)
I read recently where someone pointed out that in “The Way We Were,” Barbara Streisand’s character would have been handing out leaflets extolling Stalin.
Well, that is also true of the writers Hollywood cries about as having been blacklisted.
Why romanticize them? They were captivated by a totalitarian vision and were interested in spreading this vision. They idealized the Soviet Union and wanted that hell-hole to be replicated here. Why romanticize their stupidity.
Is there any question that there are writers now in Hollywood who are primarily interested in spreading their political agenda? Exhibit A — Aaron Sorkin.
Sorkin, imo, is illustrative of the kind of people those blacklisted writers were. Only they were trying to spread totalitarianism.
So why did Clooney choose to idealize and romanticize these types of people in Good Night and Good Luck?
It’s so funny to see anyone scratching their head and wondering why Clooney can’t open a movie!! And it’s even funnier they reject the MOST OBVIOUS reason, so eloquently stated by the any of the posters here.
The anti-American, ultra-left-of-liberal verbiage coming out of Clooney the past few years has worn thin on the “average” movie goer, and that means, we just don’t go to his movies anymore. For anyone to deny his politics and arrogance has nothing to do with it is in denial. There’s really nothing too scientific about this one people.
I believe many of us are plain sick of Hollywood and movies being produced. Nothing is very good. Couple that with stars who go on political rants and appear in anti American films. I for one, take it personal and do not wish to see them again, period.
I wasn’t aware Clooney made fun of Charlton Heston, that is so cruel!
LOL:
I have to laugh at the comment about “all us right wingers” who spill hate. The most hateful and venemous people I have every known have all ben liberals. Start with Michael Moore and work from there. The left cannot stand when anyone disagrees with it, which is why Democrats want to shut down talk radio. Free speech in irrelevant to the left when that speech happens to be conservative. History will show GWB to be a far better president than the way the current media treats him. Then again, the media never treats Republican presidents fairly. Reagan was crucified by the press every day he was in office; and he was indeed the best president during my lifetime. Go ahead with your stereotypes of “right wingers”. Most conservatives that I know are far more tolerant of opposing views than the liberal left.
i think the pomposity and arrogance that he displays is due to the fact that he seems to think that he’s the entire rat pack all rolled into one person. except the suave and debonair act he puts is just smarminess. the swagger is just arrogance and his “charm” is just a poor man’s dean martin impression.
oh, and his overbite is not the least bit attractive.
next time have the film star George Kennedy.
“It’s an industry site.”
The “Industry” seems to be a bunch of Carnies with teeth.
Large parts of Hollywood are very similar to an overly fawning parent — they basically take pictures of themselves and with their far-reaching film projector, share their self-love with strangers.
Most of these strangers have lives, but a small minority of giddy fans lead these Carnies with teeth to believe they are overly significant.
Combine that with their backyard award ceremony (aka the Academay Awards) and you have a typical grandiose, self loving family picnic.
But sometimes the movies are indeed entertaining.
But NO COUNTRY over ATONEMENT? Seems the “Hollywood Carnies” are a wee bit threatened by British filmmaking.
Strange days indeed. But yes, sometimes entertaining!
I look at Clooney like Johnny Depp before the Pirate movies or ever Matt Damon before the Bourne movies. Interesting movies but not big box office.
All Clooney needs is a good detective or spy franchise and he will be fine. Clooney call Clancy. Don’t direct it.
Pitt never has open well in the US but that never matter because he always put butts in the seats internationally. See Troy. With the dollar these days, this maybe even more important.
Leatherheads is a bomb because Clooney’s fans have deserted him.
Earth to Clooney: Fans count. Start paying them the attention they deserve. Autographs when you’re being a pr whore don’t count.
Bring back Burt Reynolds, hype him as much as Clooney, and watch Burt shoot right back to the top of the box office. In fact, keeping out of politics and keeping his political views to himself is one of the few smart things Burt has done over the years.
I am a red-blooded female who never understood the fawning over George Clooney. He has never so much as given me the ‘warmies’. He’s a smart-aleck actor and that’s it. Let his Hollywood friends ooh and ahh…..but the fact he can’t produce a No. 1 movie tells you what we, the poor masses, think of him.
I thought the film had a great look stylistically, but IT’S THE SCRIPT!!! This script went nowhere and left me feeling like I had made a bad investment in time. I was hoping the movie would turn the corner…it never did.
The problem with movies today is out of the sixty thousand or so scripts written each year those that are selected for consideration, are selected by readers; people, who have in most cases never written or sold a script in their lives let alone made a movie. Hollywood executives don’t read and wouldn’t know a good story if it slapped them in the face. They have become so fixated on the visual they have forgotten the story. Their perception of the world is so convoluted by their limited interaction with real life they see the world via the shot.
The Most Over-Rated box office attraction isn’t George Clooney, it is Samuel L. Jackson. Here’s an actor who’s had mostly small to medium sized supporting roles in some major blockbusters to take all the credit and acclaim for himself for their success.
He’s not Eddie Murphy, he’s not Harrison Ford, he’s not Will Smith and he’s not Tom Hanks. The man cannot open a film on his own. Did you ever see the Man? Or Freedomland? No, no one else did either.
Mr. Jackson is one remarkable actor, but he’s not a draw. And he and his people should be ashamed of themselves for perpetrating that fallacy all across Hollywood, the press and in Guinness.
Eddie Murphy is the only true, proven, all-time box office draw as a lead star. Mr. Murphy recently surpassed Tom Hanks for the #1 slot.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/?view=Actor&sort=sumgross&p=.htm
It is sickening no one will stand up to Jackson and his people.
CLOONY IS A STAR AND A GOOD ACTOR.
NO ONE WANTS TO SEE A 1930′S ‘ROMANTIC’ COMEDY OUTSIDE OF FREE CABLE TV.
PUT HIM IN A MAINSTREAM MOVIE AND IT’S GOLD!
oh, yeah “smartypants,” you sound real tolerant and balanced
it is loonies like you who cannot stand anyone who disagrees with you, and who pull everything into the gutter
this site has plenty of healthy disagreement, but it is always civil and intelligent until you drudge maniacs descend like a plague of locusts
everyone who disagrees with your one-note ignorant rants is not a “liberal lefty”
you people need to stop watching cartoons
everything is not us or them, lefty liberal or conservative
unlike the mental ravings of a vocal minority, most people are a thoughtful blend
GET OFF THIS SITE. THIS IS A BUSINESS SITE. THERE ARE A GAZILLION SITES YOU CAN PLAGUE WITH YOUR “VENOMOUS” [LEARN TO SPELL IT CORRECTLY] IGNORANT RAVINGS ABOUT THE GREATNESS OF BUSH AND IRAQ. YOU CRAZIES CAN HAVE YOUR ILLEGAL LOSING WAR – BUT YOU SHOULD PAY FOR IT OUT OF YOUR TAXES, NOT OURS. YOU PAY FOR IT. YOU ARE DESTROYING THIS COUNTRY ON THE STAGGERING DEBT ALONE.
Wow. Lots of right wingnuts on this site. I didn’t know we had such a great (p)resident, and that the first amendment didn’t apply to actors.
The “Industry?”
Seems like the “Industry” is really just a bunch of Carnies with teeth.
Clooney seems to be the Carnies hero. But step outside of the “Big Tent” and Clooney is Looney!
The Hollywood Industry is like an obnoxious, over-fawning parent: they take pictures of themselves and use a large film projector to share their distorted self love/self hate with strangers.
And sometimes the stuff is entertaining as hell! But how did “No Country” win over “Atonement?”
Which Hollywood Carnies became threatened by British filmmaking chops?
Hollywood movie makers seem to have become insecure, mean spirited, overly fawning Carnie parents.
George Clooney and the Academy Awards celebrate this craving for outside approval rather than self-approval.
Signed,
I am just jealous cuz Clooney is rich!
Putting aside any political differences…I don’t really mind Clooney as an actor. He is mediocre, but there are certainly few actors nowadays that are “great”.
BUT…because of his outspoken (and constant – does the guy EVER shut up?) rantings on BushAmericaConservatives, I have an instant dislike for him. Most of the time, I’m willing to put that aside if the movie that person is starring in appears to be decent. The problem is that Clooney has chosen to take his political views and MAKE movies wrapped around them. And THAT is why I (and so many other people) refuse to watch any of his movies. Too many of them have been either outright political message movies, or have had some hidden inuendos that sneak up on you. So at this point, I just refuse to see his movies, whether he’s kept his politics out of it or not.
This is more a product of Hollywood than the liberal Actors that exist within it. The production companies are supposed to be in the business of making money. Why would you make a movie…like the various anti-war movies that have all tanked (Stop-Loss being the latest)…when you KNOW it’s going to tank?
Because the powers-that-be in Hollywood all BELIEVE they have the right to force-feed their political agendas on the smelly masses. Period. And then they are stunned when we refuse to see their movies. But they makes themselves feel better by awarding each other Oscars on prime time TV to convince the country that apparently we’re so unenlightened we missed something when we decided the movie was a piece of crap.
When Hollywood takes the political (and Anti-American) garbage out of their movies, then I’ll start putting aside my political differences with them and maybe pay to see some movies. I don’t expect that to happen any time soon/ever.
It is astonishing how these right wing kooks always bring every single subject back to Iraq and the greatness of Bush.
Nikki could post a story about newborn puppies, drudge would link to it, and the cuckoos would swarm in and mouth off about newborn puppies being anti-American, and the greatness of Iraq.
I like Clooney and I couldn’t care less about an actors politics. All I care about is being entertained by the movies they make. As far as Leatherheads goes it was one of the worst movies I have ever watched, truly terrible. The strange part it wasn’t even funny, didn’t even try to be funny.
Pay no mind to these sour grapes regarding George Clooney.
They said the same things about Leo Gorcy.
Poor George Clooney. He has the face of a major movie star, but, sadly, the exaggerated vanity of a B-movie narcissist. Part of the problem is he’s not very smart. If he were, he would realize that movie-goers pay to see the films of actors they like. George doesn’t come off as likable. By constantly shooting off his ultra-liberal yap he has alienated 50 percent of potential movie fans. Now, when people see his name on the marquee, their first thought is “I wonder what’s playing across town.”
George is a media star who dabbles in film making. I guess you can’t have it all, Hollywood looks and brains. What a dope!
Pretty simple really. He’s not a movie star. People don’t care for him no matter how hard TIME magazine shoves him down America’s throat. Hollywood studios continue to prop him up because he is a Mao-sized poster boy for their beliefs. As we crewfolk say, he gets to “earn while he learns”.
I remember Leatherheads as a script a dozen or more years ago and it never got made. Even though Clooney was doing it, I still looked forward to it. When I saw the amazingly unfunny commercials on tv, well…
Another bomb for Clooney! He’s too concerned with looking “cool” for anyone to take him seriously.
This article missed a big reason for Clooney’s box office poison. Clooney has single handedly alienated a good portion of the American audience with overt left wing political nonsense movies and media rants.
I go out of my way (just like a chunk of my friends) to avoid his movies.
If Clooney wants to be a politician fine. But I want an actor in my movies.
How the hell does a movie like this cost $60 million to make? Where are the expensive special effects shots? Movies like this should cost $20 million max.
I won’t see any movies made by these liberal “idiots” but I do give Tim Robbins a pass. Shawshank was one of the best movies of all time.
Leatherheads has been kicking around for 15 yrs. And “interested” American boxoffice only makes up about 37% of receipts now totaled. The money is in overseas boxoffice and DVD rentals and purchase. People nowadays have full movie, surround sound/tv’s in their homes now. Plus, at this point there are no real up and coming actors that have excited the public. It’s too much of everything. Too many stupid tabloids, too many stupid celebrity gossip blogs, too much reporting on celebrities in the regular news. Add on the outrageous cost of taking a group of 4 let alone 2 to them movies these days just isn’t appealing to people.
You can’t expect family oriented response to an actor who has made a career of trashing America. I would never pay to see Clooney to support his anti-American speech-making.
Clooney NEVER had a very large fan base. He was propped up by the publicity machine because of his political views. This is what happens when a supplier of services forces what they think the customer wants down their throats rather than listen to what they want. Same is true for big media, which are losing millions due to alienating millions of customers by their activist activities. Major liberal newspapers are going out of business, while their shareholders loss their investments. The media will have us believe it is due to 1) recession, 2) changing market place (internet), or just “other reasons. But tell me, wouldn’t the have made more money regardless if they had millions more customers that are silently boycotting them due to their unfair political bias? They are using shareholders money to finance their very narrow political agenda, at the expense of market share. Michel Jordan had it right, even though he is a big Democrat supporter personally, he was asked why he doesn’t get more publicly involved in politics. His very intelligent answer is “Republicans buy sneakers too”!!
Why would I/anyone want to go see a family friendly nostalgia film by someone who trashes America?
People want to go to the movies as a form of escapism. As Hollywood actors, producers and directors become more embroiled in politics–both on screen and off–it becomes a turn-off to many people. I cannot look at George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, et al anymore without thinking of their politics. As a result, I avoid them like the plague. I know I am not alone in this feeling. They can continue to live in their little bubble all they want, but I live in the real world.
And, for those who believe President Bush has created all the problems in the world, get a grip. Nobody in the media or on the left gave him any credit when the economy was humming along for most of the past seven years–even after we were told that the 9/11 attacks would cause a recession that would take years to turn around. Nobody gave him any credit when Saddam Hussein was ousted from Iraq in mere weeks, when we were told by the media that his army would be difficult to defeat. Few gave Bush any credit when millions of Iraqis held a purple finger in the air indicating that they had exercised their right to vote in a truly free election, which had not taken place in Iraq in decades. Nobody on the left has given Bush any credit for the absence of terrorist attacks on our soil, when we were told by the press that 9/11 was just the beginning. In short, the liberals in this country have not given our president credit for anything which has gone well over the past seven years, while blaming him for virtually anything and everything–real or perceived–that they feel has not gone well. Under Clinton, we were told everything was roses, peaches and cream. Heck, Billy Boy even ended recessions forever, or so he claimed. Of course, when he left office in the midst of one, the press ignored it and told GWB to “stop talking down the economy.” Now that’s all the media does is talk down the economy. We were not warned that there was an economic bubble brewing during the end of Clinton’s term, which subsequently popped wreaking havoc on pension plans and 401k’s across the country. Yet, the same press that failed to warn us of that catastrophe feels the need to warn us on a daily basis of coming doom now, despite the fact that we still have not had even one month of negative economic growth in years. The Clintonians were allowed to claim they had reached a budget “surplus,” when all they did was use fuzzy math, using the growth rate exhibited during the height of the dot-com exhuberance to project out years into the future. In truth, there was never a budget surplus; yet, the media never questioned it. Now liberals blame Bush for spending the “surplus” that never existed. When Bush attempted to start dialog on Social Security reform he was rebuffed by Democrats who claimed he was overstating the problem, that SS was fine. Let’s bet that, if a Democrat wins the White House, it will be mere months before the Dems are screaming about problems with SS, that we all need to pay more into it or get less out of it.
Sorry, but you “Bush-haters” are all wet. Our president is far from perfect, but he is not the root of all problems. If you want to know the source of your problems, look first within yourself. You’re more likely to see the answer there than in Washington, D.C.
I won’t pay to see any actor thats a blowhard about politics, when did Cloony become an expert on anything? Sorry you lost my ticket money when you opened your mouth Cloony telling people what to think and how to vote. Tanker
don’t you people understand this movie is about 30’s football. also the heyday of college football’s rebirth. yale vs. harvard….bush went to yale. bush is evil.
“Wow. Lots of right wingnuts on this site. I didn’t know we had such a great (p)resident, and that the first amendment didn’t apply to actors.”
Funny, don’t I have a right to free speach too. I know only liberals what to reserve that right to themselves. Liberals are intollerent biggots, this election cycle has proved that. The Liberal campain and media had behaved terribly and racist! If a rebublican made similar statements as Obama, Clinton, Mathews, abc, cbs, cnn…they would have been thrown in jail! Only liberal are free to be racits because they “care”..what a joke and its now showing!
This isn’t surprising. Clooney’s films are generally a bit too smart and sophisticated for the average movie goer. I havent seen Leatherheads, but why would anyone expect films like Good Night and Good Luck or Syriana to be box office draws? They are much closer to art films than popcorn films.
Just want to add my voice to the vast majority of folks here that hold a persons words against them.Clooney is on my list of “no support” with Jane Fonda,Sean Penn, Mike Moore.Shut up and sing,act ect. No one wants to hear your uninformed,uneducated opinions, for that we turn to the NYTimes.
George Clooney is not likeable by any standards, to most of America. He is consistently negative about America and cannot resist giving his OPINION and knocking others down that he doesn’t agree with. What actors fail to remember, is that just because they have media coverage, does not mean their OPINIONS are right – they just get coverage. A good actor is private – because an audience will not forget the public bashings actors give out when they see them on the screen. It’s distracting. I do not go to movies anymore, and especially have a long list of actors I will not support with my dollars. They can be against the war or Bush’s policies or anything else, it is the way they present their ideas that is so derogatory – it’s malicious and leaves no room for discussion. They’d make great dictators, not actors.
Eddie Murphy “the only true, proven all-time box office draw.” That had to be Eddie Murphy, somebody related to Eddie Murphy or Eddie Murphy’s agent who wrote that. What about John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, Burt Reynolds and Robert Redford in the modern era? And people like Mickey Rooney and Shirley Temple, who were huge many decades ago? Murphy had a great run from 1982-1989 when he could do no wrong, but he’s been very inconsistent since then.
Leatherjeads sounds like a cool movie!…I love all sports movies and I dont care who acts in them as long as it has lots of sporting action scenes in it!…I dont know anything about the contents of the movie…but if it is a love story or goes off the footballing mark! I’ll hate it!…no matter who is acting in it.
George Clooney is someone that I’ve never considered a “big movie star”. Hollywood does. His arrogance is what turned me off from him leading back to his ER days. The media loves him, and always try to compare him to Cary Grant, and that was my next turn off. HE IS NO CARY GRANT! Or anything similar.
These actors today can’t hold a candle to the actors of the past. Jimmy Stewart, William Holden, John Wayne, etc. These were box office draws for many reasons. And they made good movies, and LOTS of them. They weren’t making the ridiculous salaries that Clooney, Julia Roberts etc are asking for today.
Today’s actors spit out a movie, collect their $20 million bucks, and go off to Italy and bask in the sun, and bash our country. Do us all a favor and stay there.
Yesterdays great stars are gone, and look what we are stuck with.
It doesn’t matter what side of the political spectrum they’re on, when actors decide to proselytize, they run the risk of alienating some portion of the paying public. This is just as true of George Clooney as was for Charlton Heston.
They should not be surprised nor hurt when the audience responds. It should be part of the calculation they make when offering their opinions in a public forum.
The other big problem is that it puts a permanent filter over their ability to create a character on screen that is pure and believable. The audience has to suspend an extra layer of disbelief.
I don’t believe Stanislavsky covered this in “Building a Character”. Perhaps he should have. Assuming the actor has read it.
I only wish Hollywood had been as determined to make Michael Keaton a star as they are Clooney. Ben Affleck always seemed like another one shoved down our throats who never really registered with the public.
I liked the movie, but it is simple. IT IS APRIL. I really don’t want to see a FOOTBALL movie in April. When are the studios going to catch on to movie releases and tastes. This is like putting out a Christmas special on memorial day. And WHOA, how about realizing the buying public could care less about the OSCARS. So quit logjamming movies for Oscar contention and put the movies out with seasonal consideration. Last year’s a might heart came out with the summer fun stuff. Did not even feel like watching that then, maybe fall or a january release. The public will watch good movies anytime that is seasonally appropriate. There are some movies that trancend that, but a football movie in april, nawww. Idiots. Still I liked the movie and it will get in the dvd collection for fall viewing.
There are lots of ordinary, middle of the road, people like me who refuse to support America-bashing actors. It feels like treason to pay to see anything they earn money from. Hollywood cannot tell me how to think, no matter how many anti-American films they make.
Once in great while, a good movie comes along that dares to say something good about our country, our citizens, and our values, and has a decent story to it. Show us that, without any of the politically-tainted blowhard actors, and I’d pay to see it.
When actors are known more for their ugly politics than they are for their movies, they have declared that they have all the money they will ever need, and they don’t care whether you ever spend another dime on them. The studio that uses them declares the same thing.
I’ve never seen Clooney in anything and I plan to keep it that way. For some reason, he just isn’t appealing, but I can’t comment on his acting. I abhor his personality so I will never see anything he is in. Hope this helps.
Is it just me, or does cLOONEY look like Michael Dukakis (tank picture) with that helmet on?
This is what happens when people like Clooney become anti American, and bash the Pesident of the greatest and most free conutry in the world. No true proud American will pay money to support his cause of putting down the Religious war that we are fighting for the rest of the free world.
I’m conservative. I don’t like Clooney. But, as I read the postings here, I wonder if there is an organized group that sits and writes all the anti left posts. It just seems that many of the posts sound similar. It is a shame that everyone can post anonymously.
Look, fair is fair. Haters on both sides are so adamant about their views that they will do anything!!
Clooney looks like he should have two bolts on either side of his neck from these movie stills and photo’s.
Is Rush Limbaugh directly linking to this site? Just wondering.
And another thing… every time Entertainment Tonight goes on and on about “gorgeous” George Clooney, I get sick and change the channel. He too thinks he’s gorgeous, and trust me, he’s not.
And the person who said that as soon as these stars have a lot of money in the bank, they start shooting off their mouth is correct. What do they know? As someone else said, most of Hollywood have maybe a high school education. They should try to be more of a role model type, than America hating crowd.
I for one watch TCM for classic movies, as they use to be made. For us. Not for them.
When I first read that Clooney was planning to make a period screwball comedy, I was really excited.
I’m enchanted by movies from the 30s and 40s. And since discovering them, have even come to prefer watching them to a lot of the contemporary stuff.
But once the trailers for “Leatherheads” started appearing, to me the chances for success looked bleak.
A football comedy without a physical acor/comedian? How is that a good idea?
And why would a move trailer of what appeared to be a bunch of middle aged guys rolling around in the mud be considered a good marketing campaign.
But all of that could have been overcome with a sharp script filled with snappy dialogue and most of all with really great casting.
John Krasinski was a good idea but putting in Renee Zellweger as the romantic interest was doomed to failure. At least from my perspective.
She’s a talented actress but she has a certain schtick and that schtick has become overly familiar and more than a little shop-worn.
Additionally, Zellweger comes with baggage. There is a segment of the audience that has become actively hostile to her. It’s the Claire Danes factor.
The baggage doesn’t seem to be as much of a factor in a genre other than romantic comedy, but when it is a rom com, Renee Zellweger’s presence grates and is no longer welcome. JMO.
Just speculation, of course, but I think it is because of the ungracious and unethical way Zellweger handled her marriage and subsequent annulment.
She appeared to be throwing the country and western guy who was unlucky enough to have been her victim/groom under the bus.
Again just speculation and really what do I know — nothing — but Zellweger seemed to be on the rebound from Jack White and not yet over him.
Chesney then happened upon the scene innocently strumming on his guitar. A lightbulb went off in Zellweger’s head and she worked her movie star mojo to catch him up into her little rebound psychodrama.
Oooweeee. Just wait until Jack White sees the press coverage of her wedding. Won’t he be sorry he let her go.
And that’s as far as I think Renee Zellweger thought it out. Just as far as the press coverage of the ceremony.
But then, uh oh, she was left with the reality of a legal marriage certificate. At least Eddie Murphy knew enough of make a faux marriage ceremony staged for purposes of something other than “happily ever after” also legally faux.
But Chesney’s purpose for Renee had ended with the ceremony. She no longer wanted him around.
So she threw him under the bus PR wise with her little annulment.
Not that she shouldn’t have had an annulment. People make mistakes. But the manner in which she went about it was so insensitive toward him and showed such a sense of entitlement on her part, it has permanently turned me against her.
And judging from her box office, I don’t seem to be the only one.
Entertainment industry is properly named. If it is a good movie and entertaining we will pay to go. Though there are a couple of “stars” I will not pay to see no matter the vehicle. George isn’t one of them- should be maybe- but he is cute and funny- oh entertaining.
Please note: The right-wingers only come in to comment when Drudge links to the article (as he did to this one.)
Notice that this crowd is nowhere to be found in any of the WGA, SAG/AFTRA, or Pellicano comment boards.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/movies/04leat.html
Would Bosley Crowther have …hated it?
FI-CORE, SCHMI-CORE!@
Poor, George. He and Will Smith are our only movie stars left. Everything else is “fake insouciance”.
I like that.
Abbe B.
Real patriotic Americans Hate Bush you right wing morons. If you are not going to see a movie because a certain actor is in the movie, then you are not a movie fan so STFU. Clooney is not anti-American. Anyone who supports Bush hates America and our troops.
I do not agree with the beliefs of conservative actors, but if it is a good movie I will see it.
All you right wing nuts go back to watching Idol and Wheel of Fortune. Do not go to movies, I do not want to sit nest to some Bush Ball Licker.
Really…who is he, and why is he here? I guess if the media call someone a ‘’star” long enough, everyone buys it. I guess smug and arrogant qualify him for stardom.
The right wing ravings are definitely from an organized few.
Hey, “smartypants,” learn how to spell, learn grammar, pack up your incessant ignorant ramblings, and go stink up another website.
This is what happens when education is underfunded.
He cant act,but they will give the dude an Oscar to build up some more hype,but his stupid politics cant be helping him,you sell to everybody not just Liberals..When will Hollywood ever get that through their head?
If Hollywood adopted a separation of Politics and Movies they would increase their profit as much as 25%,but anyway, I don’t get Liberal spin when I order a Big Mac,so why should I get it before I see a fuggen movie?
Some of us, including my family, stay away from movies produced by or including the anti-American left. It’s a right, just like theirs to be ignored and lose millions.
I am one of the senior citizens who last night paid $5.50 to see George’s LEATHERHEADS in our small CA town near San Diego. It was worth $5.50. I was interested because, as one of the older folks, I like movies about the 20’s and 30’s and wanted to see how George handled the history of football and how he would use his boyhood friend’s name from Ohio in the movie. Both boys were from good Roman Catholic families and both are always conscious of their family background. That being said, I see George taking his father Nick’s FDR journalistic expressions in Cincinnati to another level, i.e. Hollywood and the world. Like his dad, back in the midwest, it appears from the posts here he is not being too successful outside the Hollywood mob. Honestly, George is the exact image of his dad in looks and political leaning and just as nice of a guy. There is a lot more to add about George, but I’ll stop before all either doze off or move the the next post.
G/S
You guys are giving George an out by brining politics into this. The fact is that George can’t act and the dialogue in the ads I saw on TV was horrible. The ads are typically some of the best clips from a movie. The dialogue in the ads was atrocious so there was no way I was going to see this crap.
I saw a clip of Leatherheads on the Daily Show the other day and actually changed the channel even though the Daily Show is one of my favorite TV shows. George sucks as an actor and if it wasn’t for the connections he had in Hollywood before he became famous, he would be a nobody. Or maybe a gay porn star (but that’s about it).
I refuse to see a George Clooney movie and this is strictly based on his shoving his political views in my face. As with other responders, I want to be entertained by Hollywood, not lectured by them. As far a being a right-wing nut job. I would rather be that than a left winger with no nuts or no job.
George Clooney bashes George Bush because George is the dumbest president this country has ever had. Remember when George taunted the Iraq insurgents and challenged them to “Bring it On!” Well, they did – with a terrifying vengeance. And remember when he landed on the aircraft carrier with a big banner reading “Mission Accomplished!” Letting George Bush run our great country is like letting the retarded guy from “Slingblade” run our country. Bush is average at best, and all the people that so righteously stick up for him do so because they probably voted for him and are average at best themselves. George Clooney works for change in this once great country. Maybe his movies aren’t always the best but at least he tries to do something different. All the people who declare they will never see his movies because of his political views are the very people that we are trying to save our country from – the ignorant, the narrow-minded, the Moose-goosers.
I don’t George Clooney movies or the GC Brand. Not because of politics but because his movies do not entertain. They all seem to be high minded and preachy, in a I’m better than you/elitist sort of way. He reminds me of those choir boys at pep rallies in high school… Wimpy, not to be taken serious. Full of themselves…I don’t need that after a week of work. I need an escape. By the way he is no movie star. He’s a media star… He’s no Cary Grant.
These are the most terrifying messages I’ve seen since 2002/2003 – I can’t believe these rabid righties haven’t slunk back into their holes in shame over what’s happened to our country in the last 7 years while they had carte blanche. I’m so depressed. No wonder the whole world thinks Americans are losers.
You must remember that a “star” is a big ball of hot gas.
Clooney is definitely a star.
Clooney cannot ACT. He has the same damn inflection in every scene.
Aside from that I am tired of his telling us what our political opinions should be.
I will never watch a Cloony movie because he is a fake global warmer and a left wing jackass
“This is an industry site…”
Yes, and we know how thorough this particular industry has been at purging anyone from its ranks who disagrees with the party line, don’t we? Sorry — I just had to point that out. Oh my God, the walls have been breached and the barbarians are pouring in! Hide the cocaine!
Personally, I liked Clooney in “Intolerable Cruelty” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Maybe he could put his political evangelism aside long enough to make another Coen Brothers film. I’d watch it.
Clooney is pompous, arrogant, self-serving…the list goes on and on. I too wonder what the big deal is with him…he is simply not that good! Oh Brother was a wonderful movie but only because of the supporting actors. Sigh…when will someone start casting greats like Kenneth Branaugh…oh and one more thing, could not agree with you right wingers more…the best way to disagree with him is to stay away from his movies. No problem.
Want intelligent criticism? Here it is:
Why do people go to the movies? They go to be entertained, but more importantly, they go for ESCAPE. That means escape from their everyday worries about their children, their bills, their marriage . . . you get the idea. They want an escape from reality for just a couple of hours.
The story being told is part of that escape. So are the actors, the sets, the special effects, the music, and a myriad of other details that go into the making of the whole “movie experience”.
Any dichotomy detracts from the experience as a whole. For example, improperly using “Jaws” type tension music would detract from a tender love scene, as would dark lighting in a childrens’ movie.
So it also goes with the actors. As far as the movie-going public is concerned, the best experience comes when that actor is a blank canvas. That allows the character being portrayed a measure of believability.
When the movie-going public knows too much about the actor’s political views, (whether or not in agreement), that public invests those qualities in that character, rendering him less believable. This detracts from the movie experience as a whole.
Movie stars of past decades realized the value of a bit of mystery. Not only did it preserve their “blank canvas”, but it also contributed to that air of apartness from the public, otherwise known as stardom.
Just my humble opinion.
TX Conservative
Sorry, I see Clooney as a liberal political hack, not as a hollywood actor.
Seems many other agree with me.
hes no freekin Gipper
Actually George Clooney had a pretty large fanbase that included young teenagers and pensioners right up until 5 or 6 years ago.
It’s in recent months where his private life has been paraded under our noses, his dating choices have been questionable, every move seems like a pr stunt, his ignoral of fansites in the Esquire interview and his increasing arrogance that has turned off many long-time fans.
Everything he once stood for no longer applies and he now seems like the biggest Hollywood faker that ever existed.
Get a clue-ney, George. Your time’s up.
I’m a registered Independent and lifelong movie buff who’s slightly to the right of center. I’m turned off by actors/entertainers always spouting their left-wing political beliefs (Clooney, Babs Streisand, Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, etc.). I saw George Clooney in “Michael Clayton,” thought it was very good, but because I don’t like Mr. Clooney, I won’t pay to see it again or purchase the DVD to add to my collection. However, I’m more willing to spend my money on a patriotic star from Hollywood’s past (John Wayne, James Stewart, Charlton Heston, Lee Marvin) or a contemporary star who’s more to the middle or right (Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Sly Stallone) or some star who keeps their politics to themselves (Gene Hackman, Michael Keaton or Burt Reynolds, for instance). Does today’s Hollywood even care about people like me?
Clooney might have done better if he’d used a few genuinely talented actors like Robert Duvall, even in supporting roles. He seems not to know how to showcase himself very well. Up to now he either has picked equally uninteresting co-stars, like Jennifer Lopez, or he allows himself to be completely overshadowed by the ensemble cast.
I don’t care for Clooney’s politics but he makes entertaining films from time to time like “Brother Where art thou” or “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”
It is a strange sight to see someone marginalize themselves like Alec Baldwin or Rosie O’Donell. “Ringers” buy movie tickets too.
Mr. Clooney is one of the actors and performers I have chosen to boycott. Unfortunately, the years following 911 have angered me to the point that I simply refuse to support the incessant and irrational anti-American and anti-Bush tirades. I am sick of it. Liberals taught us the power of the boycott and I thankfully, I am still free to exercise that option.
Clooney is a phoney anti-American who’s gonna run for office one day, mark my words. He fits into the looney-bin Southern Cal vibe, but the rest of the US ain’t buyin’ it.
Plus, who opens a football movie in April?
Maybe what really bothers is that Clooney has basically done something Republicans and other right-wingers obviously writing in here haven’t been able to, that is, address the situation he needs to be in long term, and do so intelligently: he went into production, writing, and directing, so that he can actually say “f*ck off” to the inane crap of actors worrying about simplistic box-office numbers that almost never work anymore to tell you anything realistic regarding a film’s expectations or values, and so that he doesn’t really NEED to be box-office “star” like Will Smith.
He foregoes box-office number games so he can basically write his own check, have all his publicity, get the audiences he wants – and you think he is worried??!?
And by the way, is Denzel a box-office star? I don’t know if he can really open a film consistently. Still? Nicole? If it’s just Will Smith, then…who the hell wants to do what he does for it, including sleeping with scientology and grinning constantly while being empty-headed about almost everything in the real world. Will by the way, always claims to be interested some day in being another of those actor-politicians. See who laughs last.
Clooney just figured out the system so that he can be a normal human and have opinions while he works, and not worry about knee-jerk right wing conservatives like the bunch who wrote in here, where you all sound bugged about THAT, not the films. Sure, go on to your Will Smith, that should be real rewarding when he’s Governor of Cali.
His open liberal politics and America bashing has turned me off to his movies. I won’t pay to go see actors who rant and rave about their political stands…I suggest they keep their politics to themselves and just make movies…they have brains the size of peas, and they are rich hypocrites…why listen to them or support their lifestyles. They are just actors…they are just actors…they are just actors…they are just actors.
Here’s the deal – no Liberal can win a sane argument without resorting to name calling (sorry I had to use the term “liberal” there). So all of you who have said “this is an industry site!!” should step back and take notice – you must be the industry?? right?. Those of us in “fly over country” choose to patronize your product.. or not. If we choose our patronage due to political beliefs, that is YOUR problem. Not ours.
Mr. Clooney saw the way that Bono from U2 decided that being able to sing was all of the qualification needed to comment on politics and decided that he could do the same. Sorry George, your stated beliefs are too far left for the majority of your customers. Those customers have chosen not to buy your products.
Rock Hudson was a great actor. Based on what we know of Mr. Hudson now, I would guess that his politics were a bit to the left of center. However, that probably doesn’t stop the vast majority of Americans from watching his product. Why, because he was a great actor, picked great roles and KEPT HIS OPINIONS PERSONAL.
Again, the idea here is that this is an industry site – Film Industry – take notice. If a grocery store is in a community that is composed of 50% Asians, they will likely stock up on Asian food products. Well, movie industry, every presidential election since 1992 has been almost a tie. That doesn’t mean that 50% of Americans “didn’t get the message” (sorry DNC) and they weren’t confused about how to vote (sorry Al Gore). No, it means that 50% of the US Citizen population of the USA disagrees with the Liberal message. Therefore, 50% of the movie industry’s customers do not want to hear liberal views from actors. We want to be entertained.
Please entertain us.
We are adults, we know what our politics are. In fact, we somewhat resent people who tell us that we are evil because we disagree with them. Especially actors.
Thanks.
In three pages this went from Clooney to Bush and stayed there. My political opinion on this post is officially none of your business. But ipso facto, Clooney’s rep IS about politics. Duh.
Did anyone see the previews for this movie and think, “Boy, I can’t wait to pay to see this!”?
And when the stars appear on EVERY talkshow in 24 hours it actually turns me off, plus the clip they played on Letterman was stunningly unfunny.
I thought, “This is the good part?”, and the studio audience reacted with embarrassed silence.
This cost $60,000,000? I could clone the Three Stooges for that much money.
I don’t even blame the studios-they’ve been driving Porches by appealing to the lowest common denominator for years. They know the audience is stupid, and they like to keep it that way. Hannah Montana? The Reba Mcentire comedy show? Very illuminating.
We all know the movies and stars of the past were great, so what’s the point of bringing it up? If you want to watch a Jimmy Stewart movie, watch it. Don’t get me wrong, Jimmy Stewart left Hollywood to be a bomber pilot in WWII. Can you imagine any of today’s actors enlisting after 9/11? (and I’m talking about before this Iraq mess).
Love your writing, Nikki. Can’t stand Clooney. He hates people like me-conservative American-so I’ll return the sentiment. If I didn’t know how puffed up and arrogant he is, I would see his movies. Why don’t actors shut the hell up about their religious and political beliefs and just make the movies? They killed Hollywood dead. Oh, and George, you’re dating a goldigger.
moraliste In three pages this topic went from Clooney to Bush. My politics is officially nobody’s business ( for purposes of this post.) But ipso facto, Clooney’s rep can’t easily be disentangled from his politics. ( By the way, I thought Syriana one of the best films of that year.)
The only movie he was in that i liked was oh brother where art thou. But the music was the star of that movie. George was just being himself.
Clooney spent three months in my town, tying up traffic, to make this bomb. I guess the local merchants enjoyed the increase in commerce. Ultimately, that’s likely the only positive aspect to the production.
Face it, George, your career peaked when you were a bit player on The Facts Of Life. I hope you’ll go elsewhere to block traffic next time.
I think George Clooney is a great actor, but cant beleive the rants from the right on this site. The country is in the toilet and they bitch about someone who is occasiaonaly outspoken about the nation’s condition. I agree with think for yourself, but let the talented man have his peace.
One of my good buddies who loves movies and is conservative thinks Clooney is a great actor (minus Batman and Robin). Clooney’s movies have been consistently good (Three Kings, The Oceans, Syriana, Good Night, Michael Clayton). And by Geroge, he isnt as political as Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Susan Surandan, and Tim Robbins.
Who care if his movies dont make their bang for buck. Most movies that arent well made make the money anyway. And no thats not a shot at ’stupid’ middle America as it is clever marketing.
Clooney hit his creative peak with The Facts of Life. I’ve never understood why he’s put out there to be such a huge movie star. What is his biggest movie box office wise? Heck, it might be Batman & Robin…a movie he absolutely destroyed and is hailed as a bomb. Yet he is Mr. Big Movie Star? Come on…these guys are just creations of the Enquirer…they are “celebs”…but NOT movie stars. Clooney is in the same category as Lindsey Lohan. Tom Hanks, Will Smith, and Tom Cruise (pre-scientology nut) are the only real “movie stars” acting regularly today. I’d even add an over the hill Sly Stallone to that group before I’d add Clooney…Clooney has nothing that comes close to the Rocky and Rambo movies, box office wise.
The problem with Clooney, Penn, and others is that people are sick of their looney left big mouths. Shut up and act.
I stopped watching anything with Clooney in it years ago. His political talk turned me off, and I will never pay to see him in anything.
I wish him well as a person, but he has damaged his box office draw appeal as far as we are concerned.
Any hand-wringing liberal here who is having a hissy because Conservatives are speaking “Truth to Hollywood,” get over yourselves.
Your screeds can’t diminish our input, nor can they change the reality of why Hollywood’s in the crapper.
Don’t you girls have a protest to attend somewhere?
I take personal exception to George, as his smirking smugness just grates on my nerves. He is all jokes and phony self deprecating charm for the public and press, but what reveals the real Clooney are the women he dates.
Does this supposedly intellectual, politically aware man chose women to date who might be his equal in some way? No. George prefers the company of compliant Bimbos. [did you all see the vulgar sex romp pictures of his current squeeze? She looks like she has the intellect of a chimp.]
I have choices when I go to the movies. George can chose to date anyone he wishes, for whatever base reason, but I don’t have to chose his films for my entertainment.
As for all the political comments… in my opinion, ALL actors should stay out of politics. They become propagandists when they mix acting with personal political aspirations. Actors should have a covenant with audiences… that they’re performing for honest reasons.
Clooney is typical of the personalities that are created by the popular hollywood press. He is a handsome, arrogant bad boy, who cannot (or perhaps will not) act. His parts are all type cast. He is not persuasive in serious parts, and he is not funny. He can’t deliver the funny lines, and he can’t draw emotion. It is a tribute to the Hollywood kingmakers that he got this far on looks alone. Hollywood could create a star out of a sock puppet as long as the packaging is sexy. He is just another Brad Pitt, Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, etc. ad nauseum.
As someone who lived in the Middle East for a decade and speaks/reads Arabic, I can attest that Syriana is a liberal fairy tale that is laughable in its stupidity.
Syriana sux big-time, and Clooney is a stooge.
Clooney is a perfect example of the disconnect between Hollywood and America. In Hollywood for whatever reasons, Clooney is a “star” but he’s not in one in America. Most normal Americans couldn’t care less about George Clooney, what he’s wearing, thinking or dating.
Americans like seeing a movie with Will Smith or Tom Hanks. Those guys are stars. And guess what? They don’t open their mouths and make stupid political comments like Clooney does. And on top of that Clooney is a jerk because he’s nearly 50 years old and he refuses to grow up and be a man. I read an interview with him where he basically said he didn’t want to get married, have kids because it would spoil his fun. I make a fraction of the millions he makes, I’m married, I have to kids and I wouldn’t trade that in for what Clooney has. I have fun with my kids and I’m doing something with my in raising my family like millions of other regular people do.
Clooney should take a look at Will Smith and Tom Hanks and follow their example. They have families too and they manage to be real stars.
Quote: “…JIMMY STEWART LEFT HOLLYWOOD TO BE A BOMBER PILOT IN WWII. CAN YOU IMAGINE ANY OF TODAY’S ACTORS ENLISTING AFTER 9/11? (AND I’M TALKING ABOUT BEFORE THIS IRAQ MESS.)”
Wow. Reading this in one of the above posts stopped me in my tracks. It is a profound insight and just really draws back the curtain on what Hollywood has become.
Love of Country seems to be a passe sentiment for Hollywood today. They’re all way too “sophisticated” for that, I guess.
Instead it has become replaced on their part with constant America bashing hiding under the guise of whatever highminded blah blah labels they paste as gold stars on their foreheads in their self-congratulatory delusion.
Angelina Jolie (and she’s one of the good guys) doesn’t even want her children BORN in the United States of America. The same USA that Jimmy Stewart went off to fight for. Was willing to sacrifice his very life for.
In contrast, Jolie trots off across the border followed by a big People Magazine PR Payday. Sure, sure she says it is good for Namibia. But have there been any real long-term gains for Namibia.
And is Angelina Jolie teaching her children a love of country? From everything I’ve observed, she is giving them a Balkanized mentality. I read that Maddox was comparing the size of his “continent” to the continents of his other siblings.
It seems as if America to Angelina Jolie and too many other Hollywood actors is just an ITM machine.
Let’s get down to the real deal, if George Clooney looked like George Went then he wouldn’t be thought of as a great actor…………This is America, Land of the free and home of the Fake
Clooney, Penn, Sheen, Baldwin, etc…..remember, you’re just entertainers….no better or worse than clowns at the circus….you’re there to entertain and that’s it. Most kids even know more about the world than you. Be glad you found your place in it….but please don’t try to teach the ones who use you and your industry simply as an short escape from the real world.
Now dance clowns, dance…..
you people are sad. stop wasting your money on watching these shitty movies and go to a museum or something instead. i can’t believe i wasted my time reading all of these sorry-ass posts, but they are just so damned entertaining. it’s like watching a train wreck. “bushies” airing their beliefs like someone gives a fuck and whiny, arrogant “lefties” poking fun at spelling skills and bitching about iraq.
If this is an “industry” website, close the goddamned thing off and suck eachother’s dicks in private. meanwhile, deal with the consequences. i can’t wait to see all the replies to my post…correcting my grammar, spelling and telling me why i’m stupid.
Uh, Kenny, whatcha whining about? The article is ABOUT GEORGE CLOONEY, not how the country is “in the toilet.” It’s about how Hollywood and their poster-boy, George Clooney, are consistently seeing disappointing and downright dismal returns on “major” films.
You asked, “Who care if his movies dont make their bang for buck.” The investors, the producers, and the studios, for starters. I’m sure Georgie takes it to heart somewhat, too.
The babe-in-the-woods, crybaby mentality of liberals whining about “righty” and trying to steer everything back to their tired hand-wringing mantra — why, it never ceases to amaze me.
Try to stay on point. It’s a topic for discussion, that Clooney has been touted by the Hollywoodites in their ivory tower as being everything up to and including a modern-day Clark Gable — and yet audiences and profits tell a different tale. So sorry.
I am an odd person in that even though I despise Clooney’s looney left politics, I LOVED this movie.
However, I’m not surprised that this film hasn’t done well, initially. No meth labs, no heavy-handed political statements, no car chases, no shoot-em-ups, etc. But I think it will gather steam and do very, very well once families realize this is an old fashioned feature film with an actual plot and good storytelling. I’m not at all surprised that many Hollywood studios “passed” on this film for 15 years. Too “conservative,” I guess.
I’ve skipped all of Clooney’s “too clever by half” film attempts in the past few years, including the Leftist nonsense “Syriana” film, but I think he’s just about perfect in this film, which was executed about right on target (one or two scenes could have been left on the cutting room floor, but that’s a quibble.)
The HUGE irony, for a Clooney film, at least, is the moving scene in this film in which the WW I vets are singing “Over There” in a bar. “And we won’t come home, till it’s over, over there” done as a solo, made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. How moving, and how utterly unexpected to see this sense of duty in a Clooney film. That’s why I would see it again and tell others to see it, even conservatives.
The crazies posting on this site are a small organized group with an agenda, who also inadvertently make the case for better funding of education with their ignorance of spelling, grammar, and just plain ignorance.
We get it. Thumbs up on Bush, Iraq, etc.
This site is a forum to discuss movies and the business of making movies. Now move on.
Who was stupid enough to spend money to see Clowney? Its true, there IS a dumbass born every minute!
I cannot understand what all the fuss is about. George Clooney cannot act his way out of a paper bag. He is a lousy actor who makes lousy films, all of which have a notorious left-wing and anti-American slant.
Let him go back to his villa in Italy and get some acting lessons.
Hey BB, my “spelling” errors were the result of typing mistakes, which you would excuse if I agreed with your political agenda. Trust me, I am more intelligent than you, I promise. You are the result of overfunded teachers unions.
Ditto the very first comment…
She said it all..
I’m a Black, Liberal female screenwriter who loves the military (I like guns too, don’t ask)who mourns what Bush did to this country. I’m not a Wingnut who only comes to this site from Drudge. I read Nikke probably 10 times a day and was here way before her coverage of the screenwriters strike. I’ve loved movies since I was two years old according to my family. I’ve analyzed box office numbers since before they were published (in the late 70’s) so when I say George Clooney is not a movie star, you can take that to the bank. Being a liberal, I share some of his beliefs, especially Darfur. I just don’t like celebrities telling me I should care. It’s a sad reflection of our country that is TAKES a celebrity to remind us of our basic humanity. But there it is. I was glad the Russians and the French kicked him out of the UN Gen Assembly because they didn’t want to be lectured by an actor, first time I ever agreed with the French. Although I’m a liberal and think Americans have the right and the duty to speak about an unjust war, I wasn’t happy that the Dixie chicks did it in a FOREIGN country. If this were 1965 and Clooney and Penn and Sarandon were walking with MLK would I be as pissed? I don’t know. I just know the attention paid to celebrities at the expense of the average person has gone too far. If I want an opinion about the war, I’ll go ask every single soldier who served there first before I ask any celebrity who never had time to serve.
The funniest thing on this site are the few Bush Derangement Syndrome America-haters that try and portray themselves as patriots. I’m not crazy about Bush myself, but he has taken the fight to the enemy. Most importantly, what the hell does Clooney’s tanking have to do with Bush?
Clooney is a perfect example of the disconnect between Hollywood and America. In Hollywood for whatever reasons, Clooney is a “star” but he’s not in one in America. Most normal Americans couldn’t care less about George Clooney, what he’s wearing, thinking or dating.
Americans like seeing a movie with Will Smith or Tom Hanks. Those guys are stars. And guess what? They don’t open their mouths and make stupid political comments like Clooney does.
Clooney is a jerk because he’s nearly 50 years old and he refuses to grow up and be a man. I read an interview with him where he basically said he didn’t want to get married, have kids because it would spoil his fun. I make a fraction of the millions he makes, I’m married, I have to kids and I wouldn’t trade that in for what Clooney has. I have fun with my kids and I’m doing something with my in raising my family like millions of other regular people do. And unlike Clooney, we appreciate living in America.
Clooney should take a look at Will Smith and Tom Hanks and follow their example. They have families too and they manage to be real stars.
Clooney > all the meatheads on this comment board.
Tragic but Clooney is like Fonda now. His wretched politics like some vile stench, preceeds his acting persona. So along with Sean Penn, Babs, and the rest of the Hollywierd scum he’s made it to my boycott list…
I do not care what George Clooney thinks about politics and I don’t care what George W. Bush thinks about movies. My views are a mix of right and left so I try to enjoy whatever film I am watching and not worry about anything else. Clooney is a good actor and has made some enjoyable movies and some stinkers.
Most of these Clooney defenders are misssing the point entirely. These people admonish those of us who have stated that we don’t like Clooney for his political beliefs; then they whine about the “industry site” being taken over by politics. Hollywood types, like Clooney, have used their fame to advance a political agenda. THEY are the ones who have turned the entertaiment industry into a political forum. WE are merely responding to their actions, that’s all. If this string were about Will Smith, I would hazard to guess there would be few, if any, politically-oriented postings. If these people want to play in the political arena, they have to get used to the inevitable results.
For an entertainment site this is one hell of a weird crowd I’m viewing. If you don’t like Clooney for his pol. views fine. But use your heads for a moment and ponder this:
He makes adult films. And those are hardly getting made these days. The majority of pictures are greared toward teenagers, but mostly 15 yr old boys. When folks don’t go see a film like this, and i know it’s a certain crowd that will dig this kind of movie. But w/ low turn out, the less films will be made for “adult crowds.”
Thats why you get so many Knocked Ups, cartoon moives, Sci-Fi ones, Sequel after sequel. And Clooney is one of a hand full that can green light a picure b/c of his popularity. Hollywood is into making money. Thats it. It doesn’t give a shit if you’re a women in your 50’s and don’t get many films you can relate to. Or vice versa. A man in your 60’s. They’re more of those but not enough.
So something to think about but I get the impression that the majority on this site aren’t big film fans anyway but conservative haters that listen to what drudge, O’reilly, Ann C. and Hanity or Rush tell them how to think or feel about the hollywood elite. Because after all, it’s their fault we have a recession, endless war that wasn’t imperative, housing crisis, etc. It’s unique for so many conservative folks to frequent an entertainment site.
I’m curious as to what are Ms. Finke’s views are. Is she just pandering to the crowd she gets from Drudges links? Because she knows a large portion of traffic comes from his links to this site.
He was great in Facts of Life.
In an earlier post, ct davis is 100 percent correct. Every obnoxiously loudmouthed liberal in Hollywood should read this quote over and over again:
“Rock Hudson was a great actor. Based on what we know of Mr. Hudson now, I would guess that his politics were a bit to the left of center. However, that probably doesn’t stop the vast majority of Americans from watching his product. Why, because he was a great actor, picked great roles and KEPT HIS OPINIONS PERSONAL.”
“Jim Hunt” -
Yes, we get the same point made by you people OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER in the most obnoxious adversarial and ignorant way.
If you don’t want to be treated like a rabid animal, then don’t behave like one. Make a point in an intelligent, respectful, and RELEVANT way. And make it once, not over and over and over like a mob of zombies.
You people need to organize a letter writing campaign to the studios if you feel so strongly and get the hell off this site. This site is not where projects are greenlit, do you get that already???????
Iraq and Bush are not the point of this site. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT INDUSTRY SITE MEANS? It is not industry to consumer.
By the way, though it doesn’t fit into your neat little simpleton world, not everyone on this site is a “conservative.” Not everyone in “Hollywood” is a liberal. Not everyone on this site is a studio decision maker. Not everyone who disagrees with you or with the current administration is anti-American.
The most American thing one can do is speak out against the government. That is the fundamental principle this country was founded upon. Read your history books. The 1st amendment was designed so that citizens could speak out against government without fear of reprisal. Your efforts to stifle opinions other than your own is UN-AMERICAN. Your wish to keep murdering innocent American soldiers in Iraq is un-American. Your wish to drive this country into obsolescence with staggering unsupportable debt for a losing war that will never end is un-American.
Stop railing against Hollywood. Hollywood is comprised of many views including your precious Rupert Murdoch, Philip Anschutz, and more. They make the movies you hate and they are pure right wing.
Get a life.
I won’t pay to see Clooney due to his politics and inclination to use a microphone off screen, period. Ditto for Sean Penn and a dozen or so others inclined to tell me how to think and vote. Perhaps an education might prove useful!
Why does anyone talk about Bush haters in this thread? It is indelicate to hate the feeble minded. It is ungracious and uncivil. The day Bush proves he can detail the differences between his posterior and the hole he and Cheney dug us into, I’ll believe his brain has started working. As far as Clooney goes, people vote against him by ignoring his movies when they wish to. His right to speak out comes packaged with his American citizenship. Those among you who demand that he shut up are abusing your right to free speech and are being unAmerican.
BTW can any of you brainiacs explain how to get into Harvard with a C average? When I asked about a minimum GPA I was told not to bother if I have less than a 3.5. Does anyone out there believe Bush ever got anywhere on his own merit? If you do, I can offer you my share of the Brooklyn Bridge for a fair price.
Hollywood, of late, helps make America not great!..
Comic Book Scripts ????? Fly man, Fly Woman? Blue tights, Red tights ?? remake .. Because Hollywood is the Poster Child of Character Bankruptcy..it it no small wonder that their”cinema” is more like enema.
Fart joke comedy..ethnic pandering..shock violence and std. sex …are DEGRADERS
I, for one , will guard my dollar..some people are still too stupid to know the differance between good entertainment and robbery payment to support crappy acting/scripts/themes and producers.
mla28 is so right.
Clooney is an egoist and, possibly, a narcissist who thinks all the world gives a damn about his own, personal political agenda. I refuse to watch any movie that stars someone who constantly trashes a president who is trying his damndest to keep us from getting bombed to hell and having our throats slit by a bunch of maniacs who would do that, by the way, if given a chance. The next president better have a good grasp on that or we’re in for more of the same that we saw on 9-11.
Clooney has dashing looks and is an OK actor, but is a world class a$$. Oh Brother was good because it was done by the Coen brothers.
Syriana was a sick leftist ode to terrorism. May the next jihadist bomb hit Clooney’s film set. He deserves it.
Good Night was a lying bit of leftist propaganda which omitted the truth we now know about the hundreds of communist sympathizers and agents who really did infest the U.S. government and Hollywood for decades – no matter how much of as ass McCarthy was.
Even now, Matt Damon is making a movie glorifying the communists propagandist “historian” Howard Zinn – whose tripe is at this very moment brainwashing the minds of thousands of college students to hate their own country.
Boycott Clooney and Damon and all other leftist loons who are destroying Hollywood and America!
I love me some Clooney, but I haven’t been in a rush to see “Leatherheads” – afraid it’s going to be another “Intolerable Cruelty” and I didn’t care for him or Catherine Zeta-Jones in that type of role.
Entirely enjoyed “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?”, which had elements of screwball, but was balanced just right.
Loved the first two “Ocean’s” movies and the third wasn’t bad at all…loved “Good Night and Good Luck”. Also, loved “Michael Clayton” great movie and he did any excellent job in that movie.
To sum up I think he should keep doing what he’s doing except be extra careful before doing the screwball stuff.
clooney’s best movies are the political ones. george bush is an idiot. so are most people on this site. it in a nutshell.
Anon said: “Guess what. Life isn’t a fairy tale. Actors get to have press conferences and presidents who can’t put a sentence together get to rape the country for trillions of our children’s tax money.”
To bring up politics in a movie review context just proves to me that liberalism IS a mental disorder. Certifiably crazy with BDS.
I have never visited this site before and suspect I will not visit in the future. I am just amazed that so many write with such emotion about movies, actors, actresses, and mix politics and rediculous insults into the mix. What makes a movie review type website an “Industry Site”, typically “Industry Sites” are seen as industry propaganda sites.
Wow, you folks should all get a life.
I go to between 20 and 25 movie per year, but I haven’t seen a George Clooney movie since Oh Brother Where Art Thou?. This is not an example of disagreeing with George Clooney’s politics (I assume that I disagree with the politics of everyone in Hollywood). Instead, it is a matter of me questioning whether George Clooney wouldn’t be parking cars in Las Vegas, if he wasn’t in with movie execs or something. Ocean’s 11 worked because Clooney was not taking himself too seriously. Oh Brother worked because Clooney was the butt of just about every joke. The movies that Hollywood likes from Clooney (Syrianna and the stupid overrated reporter movie) ironically hurt his box office for the fun movies that make money.
I’ll never see a George Clooney movie because I don’t agree with his politics. I make a conscious choice to boycott any movie star that uses their celebrity to further their personal political goals. That kind of behavior is sickening. Sure they have the freedom of choice to use their fame as a platform. I also have freedom of choice to spend my entertainment dollars elsewhere. It is all about character and it is quite telling on people who choose to support movie stars either by ignorance of those stars’ political agendas or by simply not caring anyway, the latter being the worse of the two.
You want to see movie quality go back up like the good old days? Be conscientious about which movies you spend money on! Make a decision and stand for something!
Porsche… …you wouldn’t get very far driving a porch
why did they try to push a football movie during the finals of college basketball, the tail end of pro basketball and the beginning of the pro baseball season? thats hollywood for ya! arrogant assholes who think they have their finger on the pulse of the nation.
It appears that the neo-cons find it easier dragging down an actor, and a movie than dealing with the needless war they started in Iraq, the war they didn’t finish in Afghanistan, the tanking economy, the rising jobless rate, the fact that food stamp usage is at a record high, or any of the other hundred problems they promised easy answers to. Answers that did not materialize.
When you can’t blame the Clintons, or the terrorists the con’s have no answers.
Just a guess, but I think Clooney has offended quite a few people over the years, whenever a star dabbles in politics that happens. When they do it overtly and routinely, the segment of the public with an opposing view grows to harbor resentment. Since Clooney alienated Republicans long ago, that left him with Independents and Democrats. He recently put his foot in his mouth and offended half the Democrats, me included. So, when I saw the commercials for this movie, I thought ‘meh.’ Not interested. I’ll wait for a movie starring someone who I don’t think is an ____.
Aside from that aspect, his movies are well made, but dull.
wow…. I liked the stat mans list of figures.
Ya know, George Clooney is an ass-monkey, but we all already knew that. The fact that another one of his craptastic films is doing terribly should come as nooooo surprise.
I wonder why people keep going to see Tom Cruise movies…..? A horrible actor, with a wierd lookin nose, and a rather off-his-rocker sorta personality…huh?
Oh, and Kenny? The deal with the right-wing rants is not that these people are “outspoken political activists” it’s because they’re idiots who think that they are, in fact, political activists. They recite someone else’s words and smile pretty for the cameras and think that because they were an extra in “Patton” that they understand war and foreign policy. They know that no one gives half a flying fuck about their opinions but they just keep talking anyway!
Oh, and Cit Kane? The reason people bring up old movies is because there is absolutely NO GODDAMNED REASON why hollwood cannot produce the modern equivalent of, well, Citizen Kane for example. They refuse to, they trash decent scripts in favor of “The Hillz” with Paris Hilton. The age of great cinema is over, and that was a choice made willfully and with full knowledge of the consequences, by the studios. Studio killed the move business.
I just laugh everytime one of these so called super stud actor’s and their most recent film falls flat on its’ ass! Clooney, Cruise, Britney or any of the others, who cares? Better yet ask yourself, why should I care? Obviously everyday America does not! Hey, when Al Gore gets a nomination for an Oscar, doesn’t that tell you something about how far moviedom has fallen? Think about it all you people who do not have a life other than lving vicariously through these meglomaniac pretty boys and girls. Really, think about what it will mean to you first thing tomorow morning. Get a real life.
I don’t get why anyone with production sway thought the mixture of football and screwball romantic comedy within an old timey context was going to be a recipe for success of any kind. You’re going to alienate the potential tough-guy male target audience with the “vying for the affections of lemon face Renee Zellwegger” crap and the chick contingent who could be attracted to the period romance aspect of the film may have second thoughts about seeing it because they hate football and thus won’t be fascinated by seeing a recreation of the sport during its seminal period for a large chunk of the run time. It was flat out irresponsible for that smug blowhard Clooney to insist on having a 60 mil budget for something with minimal at best prospects of financial success…he should’ve gone the Slapshot route of cult classicism instead by dramatically slashing the price tag, jettisoning the predominance of femininity and emphasizing gridiron brutality and linguistic filth to up the virility ante.
It’s pretty simple people, Clooney doesn’t try to make garbage movies. America loves garbage movies…see the disconnect? Frankly I don’t give a damn what Clooney make per film, just as long as he keeps making them. His political stance makes not a diff, the rubes and hillbillies that predominately make up the GOP aren’t his target audience anyway. He should have teamed up w/ the Coen bros if he wanted to do screwaball though. Oh you poor babys! You don’t like Clooney’s politics…you’re patriotism so great that you cannot bear to sit through Clooney’s movies…oh! the humanity! Too bad you’re not patriotic enough to put your money where your mouths are a fight for your country, while its in 2 wars. But yes, yes that Clooney sure is anti America. Enjoy your Little Debbies and Cheetos brianless morons.
So can anyone post example of Clooney ‘trashing America’? If your so patriotic, why aren’t you in Iraq? Talk about trashing America…what do you think happens to countries that start wars that the people of that country refuse to fight? Here’s something to piss you right wing idiots off:
Sean Penn was right about Iraq.
Susan Surandon was right about Iraq.
Tim Robbins was right about Iraq.
George Clooney was right about Iraq.
Barbara Steisand was right about Iraq.
Ed Asner was right about Iraq.
Rob Reiner was right about Iraq.
Meryl Streep was right about Iraq.
…and all the country and western singers were wrong, wrong, wrong. And did they give up their cushy country limousine lifestyles to fight for their country? Hell to the no. Based on what has happened since, you could make the case that it was the Hollywood liberals who tried to save America, and the Country music industry was out to DESTROY AMERICA!
Here you go conservative cowards…do you duty:
http://www.goarmy.com/
You do love America….don’t you?
Show of hands, who else is amused that Nikki has managed to create a haven for the 14 people who still support Bush?
I think that it’s appalling that Clooney has political views. I bore my friends endlessly with mine, but I’m entitled because I am so smart and well versed in policy like all of my kind. He’s an ignorant idiot and should STFU! I would only listen to him if he were a Cheeto smeared grocery store clerk with a third grade education living in his mother’s basement–and then only if he agreed with me. It’s unAmerican to live in a world where people with different views walk around free–so is Clooney unAmerican! Get educated, you commies! I am entitled to go my entire life and never hear anything I disagree with, it’s my right as an American. Also, I am offended because Clooney is not in Iraq–what’s his excuse? I bet it’s not as good as mine and all the other Bush loving patriots here. So there.
There’s much inappropriate hysteria about Clooney’s politics – after all, the posting was about box office for a football movie. Moreover, not one blithering hysteric has yet to wipe the frothing saliva dripping from their chin and articulate in calm intelligent terms specifically what is so objectionable about Clooney’s politics.
Personally, I can’t stand Obama, and Clooney’s promotion of Obama is irritating, but that is irrelevant to this site and his football movie.
If you people are so intolerant and childish that you won’t see a film with someone who holds a different world view than you, that’s your whiny perogative, but stop storming the gates and trying to cram your absurd anti-America accusations down everyone’s throat.
Every weekend the Fox noise crowd links through and the discourse always becomes about Iraq and Bush.
Poor marketing by studio which seeems to be an epidemic. No spark with ReneeZ, poor casting. Dull dull movie. George is best in movies with strong supporting casts. He cannot carry a movie by himself. All the publicity about him being a star like Cary Grant has created a backlash, the Time last movie star was not good PR for him. He is getting older, needs better scripts, aging playboy image not funny anymore. Growth in studio money streams now are overseas and DVD, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Matt Damon are very stong moneymakers in worldwide markets, George is not.
Clooney should stick to not smudging his makeup, smiling for the cameras, and reading his lines.
For a man with zero education, he sure does talk a lot about things he doesn’t have clue #1 about. Spare us the politics, please.
I’ll take my kids to a Disney flick instead.
Clooney can’t act.
It is interesting to read this stuff . I am from Canada and these guys like G Clonney,m. Moore etc… are leftist ,liberal losers and they are people I hate and wish the worst for . I cannot go to there stuff and listen to there anti american crap without wanting to do the worst things to them . They produce the worst crap and are very tipical of holywood .
clooney knows acting about as well as he knows politics – he’s just a hack, plain and simple.
Can’t stand the man – never could take his politics – he has no formal education and relies on his looks to make up for lack of acting skills. How believable is a guy this old playing football? Why have a football story coming out during the Final Four? Anyone who would release a movie on Final Four weekend needs to have his head examined anyway. Nuff said.
I don’t know how GW,or Iraq got drawn into this,Cloony sucks! he cant carry a film,and if his politics keep people away from his sh’ty movies..maybe he should shut up or go smoke something and just drop dead on Hollywood Blvd,that would get him back on the front page..It works for others,you cant argue with success.
Hey CMA, Clooney went to Northern Kentucky University. Where did you get your education? From the back of Cracker Jacks box? Right wing idiot.
Clooney just sucks as an actor. I’m sitting here trying to think of one good movie in which he was the headliner…but I am coming up with zilch. His anti-American rants don’t help him with the average Joe movie goer either. I would pay to avoid seeing his movies. As for you wimps that are writing to support him because of his politics, your comments are pathetic and demonstrate your real hatred for those who do not support the enemies of America.
Of course this movie will tank, just like most of the recent GC movies. Most people (like me) don’t want to watch some Hollywood-Lefty in a movie that’s anti-American (Syriana, Micheal Grey, etc.) or a movie that sucks (Leatherhead).
If GC were to stick to good movies about good people (The Peacemaker), he’d do okay. The Peacemaker made $110 million in worldwide sales because it was a pretty good movie about the good guys (America and the US military) doing good things.
I just don’t think you leftwing people get it. You are jumping on people who are giving their opinion of an actor. People who don’t like his political rants. When you go to a movie, like someone said, you want to escape. When you see a movie with him or someone with hateful opinions, it just takes away from their character.
So don’t call us crazy for having a right to our opinion, and bring up the president and all that.
There is a reason to our madness and our opinion
At the very least, “Leatherheads” should have been released where it was originally scheduled, early December, 2007, during football season. By the way, I’m not willing to concede that all those liberal idiot actors the one poster mentioned were “right” about Iraq and the Bush Administration was “wrong.” Has America been attacked on its own soil by Islamic terrorists since 9/11? No. Has taking the fight to the enemy on its own ground helped prevent another attack within America? Possibly. Also, the typical Tim Robbins answer of why don’t you go fight in Iraq? A better question is, would pansy liberals like Tim Robbins and his kind fight for America under any circumstances? People who have prospered as much in America as these actors seem hypocritical for always wanting to blame America first. I’d have more respect if more of them moved to another country more to their far-left liking and refused to work in America. We need more Charles Bronson’s, Lee Marvin’s and Charles Durning’s and less Clooney’s, Robbins’ and Penn’s.
If Clooney didn’t ‘look’ the way he does, he’d be working at a machine shop. He’s not a great actor, but good. If he wasn’t what many people call handsome, he’d be nowhere.
Its the same thing with many others…. if Barbara Streisand didn’t have her voice, she’d be a hairdresser.
Yet because they have a ‘face’ or a ‘voice’, most of them seem to think they are special or know more than others do. They are special, but it’s cosmetic. It’s definately not brains!
And ain’t it grand how Fox News keeps growing and growing while Hollywood profits keep shrinking and shrinking? There a lot of people (like myself) who want their news reporters and movie stars to be Americans first, their professions second. Then again, deep down, many in Hollywood feel America is more of a force of evil than good in the world. Yet the fact is that many of them stay here and live in astonishing luxury. Why stay in a country that’s so bad and makes you so unhappy? Or is it only during liberal Democratic administrations when you feel you’re allowed to be American? Wasn’t it liberal icon Franklin Delano Roosevelt who put in censorship laws during World War II and Harry Truman who dropped two atomic bombs on Japan? The problem is Hollywood has gone from being “liberal” to just far-left, Marxist insane.
You cannot denegrate, alienate and ridicule 50% of the paying audience because they have conservative values, and expect them to PAY to watch your performance. Thats a FACT jack !!!
I agree wholeheartily with this post.
It is amazing how these people work hard and then desire to be stars…who makes them stars those that pay their salaries…the audience
Just do your job and quit lecturing us!!!
Just because you are paid millions does not make you smarter and better than the rest of us/
Besides I would rather see real actors, those that do it live and do not have to do take after take.
the real actors to me are those that do 8 shows a week on Broadway, sing dance and act
and love what they are doing…how can you tell
well they do not sit around counting their millions and lecturing America
As many haved noted, Clooney’s chickens have come home to roost. His arrogant, vicious assault on traditional American values and conservatives in general have left 50% of the American public despising him. Then, 75% of the rest of the country is all to aware of the fact he just isn’t a talented actor or movie star material. Clooney movies are “mini air-America” stories..that is, another left wing financial failures. Hollywood’s fawning over this two-bit hack hasn’t done a bit of good, nor will the main stream media’s love affair with him & every other left wing whack job. You can put all the lipstick you want on a pig, but in the end, you’ve got what you’ve got. You couldn’t PAY me to see a movie that has anything to do with George Clooney. If Hollywood wants to make some money, jusy put out a patriotic war movie that supports our troops, their heroic accomplishments and the fact that the war WAS AND IS A NECESSARY ACTION AMERICA HAD TO UNDERTAKE TO INSURE OUR SAFETY. But no, hollywood would never make such a film, and hence the losses will continue.
His academy 2 academy award nominations, one of which was a win would seem to contradict that assertion, LOVE. But, that is one pesky fact I know you will choose to ignore
What’s with all the political bickering? So a liberal actor has a bad showing at the box office and suddenly that makes it OK to go after him for his political views? I don’t follow that logic. We can criticize, but be constructive and respectful. I’m not a fan of the current occupant of the White House, but I’m not going to go on a rant about him when the subject is supposed to be George Clooney and his film’s lackluster showing at the box office.
Thank you, and you are now free to continue your pointless arguing
I personally won’t go see a Clooney film because of his strident political persona off-screen. I have no idea how many other people boycott Clooney, but one would think the studios would want to test the market before signing a “radioactive” star like Clooney.
I disagree with Clooney’s politics, but I tend to like George Clooney. I believe he’s sincere- but he’s just wrong. Funny thing is, I am sort of glad to see his films tank, because of the political positions he’s taken, and statements he’s made- but on the other hand, I’d like to see him succeed- if he only wasn’t saying do much dumb (to me, at least) stuff.
From the Emergency Room to the Middle East Kings movie to Oh Brother How art Thou? to Oceans 11 to Michael Clayton to this…the evolution of the actor George Clooney who is also a liberal know it all politician with too much money and not enough brains. Hollywoods actors are and always have been for the most part communist puppets, except for the ones with enough guts to say “NO…I can’t stoop to the levels of the Democratic left. I have morals and values and I Love America and I love the freedoms that our Military allows us and I don’t know all the facts about wars or the economy or global warming to really say that our president has been wrong all along. That maybe history will prove him right….and maybe Jesus Christ is more than a curse word to use on the movie screen.”
Clooney bashing aside, I think the studio was expecting Krasinski to bring in the kids–they pushed him via the Sunday Parade mag as well as tying in marketing with “The Office,” which BTW depicted Clooney as too important to appear on an NBC promo. Krasinski’s not a big draw outside of his element.
Looking at the TV ads, this was basically a Three Stooges skit–I might add Moe, Larry, and Curly had real comedic skill to pull it off.
George can’t even act…he has the same stupid look on his face in all his movies! You know the one…he turns his head sideways and has that look of confusion on his face. His looks have gotten him to where he is, it certainly wasn’t his acting.
Go home George…you bore me.
I don’t think most far-left loons would see Islamic terror as a threat even with half of their head cut off. They live is some “We Are The World” fantasyland. All Americans should be thankful to the Bush Administration for one thing: keeping us safe since 9/11 despite to left’s attempt to quash every anti-terror measure. But that could all change tomorrow, and we know who’ll be complaining and criticizing first. Other than the vast majority of today’s boring actors and filmmakers feeling no allegiance the U.S.; obvious PC pandering in nearly every movie; a steady diet of stupid comic-book movies aimed at 12-year-olds; torture porn; gross-out comedies that substitute extreme vulgarity for wit; CGI overkill that makes everything look more fake; incoherent shaky handheld camera techinique combined with editing where no shot last longer than 2 seconds; and formulaic plotting, Hollywood, you’re doing just great.
same old
Agelina jolie “dull on screen” are you insane? If there is something that she is not is “dull on screen”. As for the “tabloid star”, unfortunately not just for Angelina but for every actor escaping the tabloids, the gossip blogs etc. it’s impossible. As you can see by going to to any of those pap agency sites, even the actors that are not much on screen anymore, that are 70, 80… can’t escape them. And with media organizations like AP increasing the entertainment coverage it will became much worse.
Angelina Jolie is a terrific atress (and ist’s not i that think so, but the critics and her peers) and she can be ver effective when she wants, like in George Wallace, Gia, Girl, Interrupted, A Mighty Heart or Playing by heart. It’s true that at some point of her career made some bad script choises, but she’s only 32 years old.
She seems to be more selective now. Working with “serious” or “respected” directors and getting serious or de-glamming roles, like The Good Shepherd, AMH, Changeling or Atlas Shrugged, while at the same time proving that the bad girl still isn’t dead in Beowulf or Wanted, thus showing her versatility.
Unfortunately, althought she is still very young, i don’t think we will see much of her because acting doesn’t appear to be her priority.
… oh yeah, and I forgot to mention all the unnecessary, dumbed-down remakes.
Hollywood can’t have it’s cake and eat it too !
The USA is 35% Liberal 30% Moderate 35% Conservative.
If Hollywood wants to wear it’s Liberal anti-USA view
on it’s sleeve it shouldn’t be surprised when 65% of the Country doesn’t want to support their anti-USA Liberal
propaganda. My advice to Hollywood is SHUT UP and SING!
Don’t call our President a Fascist Dictator and then
kiss the ass of Hugo Chavez (a Fascist Dictator),who calls himself a Socialist. Do yourself a favor and just
SHUT UP and SING, it’s better to be silent and thought
stupid than to speak and remove all doubt.
My wife used to watch ER on TV and it drove me nuts. Clooney’s all fake swagger and fake macho, although I’ll grant that he’s probably good at memorizing his lines and hitting his marks. Spare me any talk that he’s talented. If there’s been a #1 beneficiary of pure hype (e.g. sexiest man alive), it’s been Clooney. I was hoping that he’d leave ER to try for a career in movies, so I wouldn’t have to watch him on my wife’s then favorite TV show. I expected him to have a series of bombs and then go back to TV and host a game show until he got old. Unfortunately, Hollywood doesn’t care about how many turkeys this guy is associated with. So he’s still starring in crap and still on People magazine. More than a decade later, it’s still a bunch of fake swagger, and I’m even more inclined to believe the rumors that he’s secretly gay. Gimme a break. George Clooney, please go away!!!!!!!!!!
I saw the film, and it didn’t suck. In fact, it was a good, old fashioned film that didn’t rely on car chases, gang violence or the F-word every three seconds to make it “edgy.”
I don’t like Clooney’s politics, but I think conservatives should reward him when he DOESN’T make anti-American trash like Syriana, but instead makes films of extremely high quality, like this one.
Great actor who makes great movies. When all is said and done his movies will be classics. Leatherheads was a fun escapist screwball comedy, but it was also intelligent and captured an era when people were authentic. Good job George. Don’t let the idiots get you down.
My husband and I actually saw Leatherheads and we both liked it. Everyone in the theater seemed to as well. It was a cute movie. Get it… movie…..Everyone who wants to read anything else into it needs to get a life. It’s a movie. No blood and guts, no special effects, no nude shots, no streams of endless profanity, just a cute story. Not everything has to be complicated.
I love George and think that he is a very good actor.
I haven’t seen Leatherheads yet, but I intend to.
I don’t always agree with his political views, but I respect his right to have them.
Went and saw this movie today and typically Im not a big George Clooney fan but was hoping it would be funny like Brother Where Art Thou. This movie wasnt even close. I kept falling asleep during it. Not to ruin the plot for anyone but Clooney EVEN in a football period type movie finds a way to bash our military. I will not say any more but you will know what Im talking about if you see it. I rate a movie as good if I would go see it again or buy it on DVD. I wouldnt see this movie again if it was free. Out…
Just gotta say – I’m lovin’ all the anti-Clooney comments. I can’t stand the guy and haven’t since I first set eyes on him as a bit-player on the old Roseanne show. He couldn’t act then and he’s even worse now.
I don’t give a rat’s ass about Clooney’s politics, although I do wish he’d shut the hell up. I was happy to see him get his come uppance at the UN a few months back when he didn’t get the warm welcome he thought he’d get. Unlike Angelina Jolie who spent 5 hard years in the field learning the ropes from the ground up, Clooney with his usual arrogance thought he could walk into the UN and lay on that fake-ass charm of his and tell them how to fix the world’s problems just like he bamboozles the morons in HW to give him money for his crappy movies. Luckily for all the world the dignitaries at the UN were neither impressed by Clooney’s two weeks of field work nor his attempts at humor when asked why he thought he had anything to offer the UN. Hubris finally kicked Clooney in the head and it couldn’t have happened to a bigger asshole.
Now all I really need is for those shitty tabloids who think it’s fun to stalk mentally ill women to do the world a favor and tell the women of middle America Clooney’s preference for high-class call girls. Maybe if they splayed open his mysoginistic little black heart the Minivan Majority would finally realize this guy is NOT anywhere close to being “classy” and he sure as hell doesn’t deserve to be labelled as the “modern day Cary Grant”. Cary Grant with caught with a series of cheezy hookers and Nine.com girls? I. Don’t. Think. So.
I am not George Clooney fan — but my husband wanted to see this movie and I said ok after all Rene Z was in it. I was honestly surprised how much we enjoyed it. The audience was laughing all the way through.
We went to see Michael Clayton and I liked that movie too. I think the type of movies he is doing would have played better in the 50’s when sex was a little more coy and verbal jousting as foreplay was entertaining.
Today’s audiences likes trash, trashy scenes, trashy language, bloody bodies, and boob shots. Well these movies aren’t like that. They are good stories, and that is what is missing today. Good stories. Well written stories. Perhaps the real problem with today’s movies is that they are written by 20 year olds who think titillation is tits. That’s all they got.
I like Will Smith as I am a sci fi fan. However, Hitch was down right horrible, the pursuit of happiness just turned me off, and I am Legend was so so. I loved I, Robot and still can’t figure out why Will don’t do ID2. Makes no sense. Will should stick to action movies.
I heard that Clooney was in … maybe eleven tv shows before ER. It was a huge number. Most of the cancelled immediately. I think he lasted a little while with a bit part on Roseanne.
Now he’s in box office flop after box office flop.
You know, most people in show biz get ONE CHANCE.
But not Clooney. He’s connected enough to keep getting another chance. And he’s self-centered enough to not care who loses money while he plays movie star and alienate’s people who really love America with his political activism.
George: “Shut Up and Sing” I was fan until you started opening you big liberal mouth. I wouldn’t watch one of your movies now if I was paid.
When will actors realize that they are a success because they are in fact vacuous. They have a talent for allowing a director to squeeze a writer’s words through the empty space between their ears and out their pretty mouths. It’s a rare actor that can speak his/her on words in an entertaining and thoughtful way. Even rarer when they can make a decent movie by themselves.
I just finished reading the comments on this topic and I can’t believe the number of posts blathering on about Clooney’s politics. I don’t give a crap about his politics! THE MAN CANNOT ACT TO SAVE HIS FREAKING LIFE! Add that little fact to his narcissism, arrogance and false sense of importance and that’s all you need to know about why his movies tank at the box office. Had he even a modicum of real talent maybe some of his negatives could be overcome, but the bottomline is – watching Clooney, a two-bit tv actor if every there was one, on the silver screen is right up wither with watching Jennifer Aniston (another tv actor over-reaching her “talent”), ie, boring, repetitive, stiff, monotonic, one-note and just plain bad. Both of them need to go back to tv and leave the big-screen for the real actors.
I don’t go to movies and I don’t rent them either. I refuse to support communists, socialists and other left wing radicals. Hollywood would do much better if they moved to Europe, Russia or China where people might agree with their misguided politacal views. Until “non” actors learn to entertain us and stop trying to “enlighten” us with political BS, I will never go see another movie again. So tell me when that earthquake will turn LA and Hollywood into an island of misfits? I promise to eat popcorn while watching the event on TV.
“This is what happens when education is underfunded.”
Yes, it leaves liberals intolerable to a viewpoint other than one which parrots theirs.
It was a LIBERAL post at the very beginning of this disscusion that brought Bush and Iraq into the fray, not those of us who linked to it from Drudge.
Read the whole “book” libs before you try to tell me what the story is about!!!
cooney & his ilk have a very small fan base in the US! Especially amoung vets, like myself. We are starting to support people who don’t denigrate the USA! Hollywood used to produce patriotic films along with their commie crap – any new movies about our heroes in Iraq or other places? No! Case closed take your shit back to Italy and bugger little boys for your friends!
Clooney needs to get over himself and come back to
earth. He thinks he has all the answers.
Leatherheads
Of course Leatherheads will fail.
Renee Zellweger couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag, much less a movie lot.
She is irritating and destined to ruin all films in which she appears.
George Clooney is a guy who got up to speak at the Oscars (as a presenter, not a recipient) and told the country he was proud Hollywood was out of step with America. Nuff said.
Didn’t GC say some horrible things about Charlten Heston? Well he got his wish…maybe he will send some flowers to his loving wife of 64 years. Mr. Heston was a good soul and a actor that was not ashamed to be an American. God Bless him and his family. I really wish people would see how great we are as a country like Mr. Heston did. I am tired of all the hate from both sides….
If I remember correctly after reading through over 240 comments, only two people got it right about why this movie tanked!
A football movie shouldn’t have opened in April!
It should have opened just after the regular college football season ended & just before the NFL playoffs begin.
They totally lost the free publicity they would have gotten from all the football on TV.
The marketing people for this film are stupid beyond belief.
But then, NBC premiered a football TV show in the fall of 2006 & ran it on Tuesday, even though the title is ‘Friday Night Lights’!
Clooney’s other problem is that he must not want to be the new Cary Grant. He’s perfect for that, but he would have to make three or four rom-coms to every serious movie. He seems to have that ratio turned around.
Damned if I can figure out why!
And will you goddam wing-nuts go back to ranting & raving on LGF, Pajamas & Freepers!
Every last one of you is totally fucking nuts!
George Clooney is a pompous ass & attacks anybody who he thinks has slighted him in any way. His gigantic sense of entitlement is amazing. If he’s not spewing his liberal claptrap, then he’s cracking one idiotic joke after another. It’s hard to get a straight answer out of him without his smartass answers, and Hollyweird just thinks he’s so clever. He loves to belittle conservitives, republicans, etc, but that may be half his fans. That liberal idiot Julia Roberts did the same thing when she said republican is between reptile & repugnant in the dictionary. She’s not half as funny or clever as she thinks she is. Neither of them will ever get my money-I refuse to ever go to one of their movies.
About these theories:
I’d put the amount of the country that is hostile to to Clooney’s ideas at about 30%. These people would care about these things, while everyone else is either “Centrist” or does not want to translate political loyalty into guaranteed attendance.
Clooney has been a boxoffice poison since he started making movies. Once Fine Day, Batman and Robin, and that movie with Nicole Kidman were all flops, inspite of big promotions.
So I don’t buy the excuse that he’s flopping because of his politics.
PEOPLE SIMPLY DON’T LIKE HIM.
He’s not someone most people find charismatic. The “cool”‘ and “charismatic” that the media tries to spin is all that, media spin, which by the way you can buy. So you see, time and again audiences have rejected him and his movie. People still think he’s nothing more than just a TV actor.
Acting is supposed to be an art wherein the actor convinces the audience that he or she is someone other than who they actually are. If that person becomes too strongly associated with ANYTHING, this interferes with that process. The audience loses the ability to believe the actor.I am a dumb layman/ non-artist and I know this. How can so many “brilliant” “intelligent” “professional” actors in Hollywood not understand it?
I never watched ER in my life, and had no opinion of George, but I’m from Cincinnati where his father is very well-known and respected, and his aunt completely beloved.
When I saw “The Peacemaker” I thought to myself, if Gene Hackman had been the lead character, this movie would have been good. George just isn’t a good actor. I did enjoy him in “Brother Where Art Thou”.
And (apparently like Leatherheads) they seem to see him as a modern day Clark Gable doing these cutesy “Boy-Girl” comedies, but none of them have really been that great, in large part because George is self-consciously smug. As far him doing anything else..they bomb because George can’t act.
As to his politics…I certainly would prefer he just keep his yapper shut. Goes for all of them.
Now this I didn’t expect. I didn’t expect his film to bomb so quick.
Cloony = anti American
Clooney’s “wink wink nod wink” style of acting went out with the 1940’s. Anyone who thinks he’s a “movie star” is, seriously, living in the past … much like Clooney’s films … and Clooney’s fascination with his own opinion. This is the guy who was going to boycott the Academy Awards b/c of the writer’s strike … like ANYONE except George Clooney cared. He’s in love with himself, and American audiences are too smart to be duped by an actor so in love with himself.
I just want to go on record: I adore George Clooney, I adore John Krasinski but I cannot tolerate Renee Zellweger. If her character had been played by literally any other actress, I would have seen it this weekend. Oh well.
Clowney is sickening. Such an embarassment to my race.
It isn’t necessary to point out what an idiot George Clooney has become. He makes it perfectly clear with his professional, political, and personal choices. Every time he opens his mouth, it’s hard to believe that someone can be so vacuous. It also isn’t necessary to hope that he will disappear soon. He’s saggy and sour. People won’t even bother to comment much longer. But, for those who wonder what happened to him, what went wrong… here’s the reality. He has never been anything special. He was a painfully ordinary student who grew up in Northern Kentucky. He managed to enroll at Northern Kentucky University. Academics were not a priority, to put it kindly. Fifteen years after he left, the faculty still joked about him. His sweet Aunt Rosemary was responsible for his break into show business. He mastered the “fake it ’till you make it”, never made it, and now he hides behind arrogance and insults. Nothing special, nothing new, nothing that will be remembered.
Any actor who decides to shove his political views down my throat is automatically on my do not see list. I know most of them (Hollywood actors) think the same way politically, but most of them are smart enough to keep their views to themselves.
Its funny how right wing actors (few as they may be) keep their mouths shut about politics for the most part. Unfortunately, if they do speak up it is career suicide. Lets see how many parts James Woods, Sylvester Stallone, and Chuck Norris get in the next few years.
Georgie lost me back in January when as newly appointed UN Messenger of Peace, he shows up to a meeting of nations, wearing an Obama bracelet. Uh Georgie, this is not the time or place to recruit votes for your presidential candidate. Then when some of the nations refuse to listen to him tell them what they’ve been doing wrong (snort!)he makes some lame joke of how next time he’ll bring the sexiest men alive Brad and Matt along as incentive to let him speak. Then during a press conference he goes on to show just how ignorant he is about the sexual abuse claims against peacekeepers. WTF Grow the hell up; top name dropping and shut your mouth and learn some humility and do your freaking research before you open your smug mouth. It burns my butt how the media gave him a pass on this too. If Angelina Jolie had made an ass of herself the way he did, it would have made every so called legitimate news station, newspapers, blogs and finally the rat tabloids. Georgie is patted on the back and is giving credit for showing up. I will never pay for any of his movies again. For the record I’m a bleeding heart liberal so don’t chalk my rant up to right wing mumbo jumbo. oh and George Bush owes all of us an apology for breathing.
Why is it that the insecure right wingers allways accuse anyone who disagrees with their knee jerk politics, of “hating America”? Oh yea, because they’re insecure and can’t tolerate opinions that don’t march in lockstep with their own. Extremely un American if you ask me. Iran, China, Cuba, might be societies where they would feel more at home. America values freedom of speech and that includes freedom to disagree, love it or leave it right wing nut balls.
Sweet zombie Jesus. Can’t wait to see which picture/producer/director/actor wins the coveted Drudge Readers’ Choice award in next week’s Typical Hollywood Anti-American Liberal sweepstakes. Because I’m just riveted by people who find so few ways to say the same thing 200 times.
Perhaps people are just so sick of Clooney’s anti-Americanism that even his footy-flick won’t interest a public disgusted with this poseur.
seriously. how many comments bashing this guy can we beleive? frankly the guy has been a part of some of the best films of the last twenty years. hell, “good night, and good luck” deserves him as much credit as you johnny-go-hate-some-shit’s wanna slam him for. oceans eleven (with the rat pack) was a total vanity film, and you blast this guy for actually pulling off the personality worship that made the first one good? oh, wait a second there are sequels, have you seen “robin and the seven hoods”? good god.
the undeniable reality is that “good night, and good luck”, “the good german”, “welcome to collinwood”, “syriana” and “confessions of a dangerous mind” are some of the most original cinema features outside the arthouse that are good. hell, i’d even stand behind the ocean’s trilogy, for reasons mentioned earlier.
come up with a good reason to rag the guy, as an artist. cuz he is good, fallible maybe, but better than most.
its not like you have to give him unyielding support, just talk shit where shit is due.
he may be a chiseled jawed liberal loudmouth. but wasn’t john ford a borderline fascist with a brilliant sense of film?
I never bother to listen to what actors say outside their movies, so I had no idea Clooney made fun of Heston’s Alzheimers.
If I didn’t already boycott his movies because his acting sucks, I would have to start just because he’s a jerk.
Real Liberals don’t make fun of people’s illnesses.
It’s kinda sad in Hollywouldn’t right now. On the one hand, if you don’t go out and toe the “progressive” party line, you won’t get million-dollar movie contracts. But when you do obey the rich and powerful overlords and spout some anti-American/pro-Marxist tripe to get that gig, the populace learns to despise you (and rightly should anyone who just got called an idiot by a pretty idiot). Classic Catch-22.
Time and a free market will soothe this wound, either by forcing Hollyweird to make a product humans from Earth would want to watch, or supporting alternate avenues of profitable entertainment.
He’s too political. Too verbal in his disdain for the United States. Screw him. I would never see on of his movies intentionally.
I watch (and pay for) movies to be entertained, not indoctrinated. When is Hollywood going to figure this relatively simple concept out? Instead of shooting the message (and the messenger), they blame the recipient (the audience) when these movies fall on their heinies.
I wouldn’t watch a Clooney movie on a bet. Why should I put (more) money in this putzes pocket? How can you be a big time “movie actor” when you’ve alienated at least 50% of the target audience right out of the gate?
Once again I am heartened by the majority of comments, particularly those noting the stupidity of Bush bashers using any chance to spew their meaningless venom. Taxes meant for the children . . . please.
I liked Clooney in a couple of movies early on, and absolutely hated the Oceans Eleven stuff. But that doesn’t matter: once he identifed his acting with being another stupid Hollywood lefist, I was done. Listen up Hollywood. I don’t watch Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and a host of others who have publically identified themselves with leftist, anti-American causes. And I put my money where my mouth is.
Zeb, you and Enough just don’t have the IQ to get it, apparently. Nobody, including myself, is saying loony Cloony does not have the right to voice an opinion, however anti-American. We, the FOX crowd as you call us, are simply saying we have the right not to support him. Let me give you an example. If you patronize a particular Dry Cleaner, with great prices, great service, and a convenient location, and one day he put a KKK recruiting poster up in his establishment, would you still frequent his business? By your standards, if you don’t, you are trying to stifle his free speech. I wouldn’t support a Nazis’ business, a klansman’s (if you could find one) nor an anti-American Hollywood creep. Voting with my dollars is a my form of free speech. What’s yours?
I also agree…Clooney is a subpar screen actor producing crappy movies. He was prety good on ER and Roseanne though.
I’m so bored with movie reviews that criticize a film for not being a huge box office draw. Box Office draw is dead for “small” films like this one. Yes, a $60 million film is small by today’s standards. The film will go onto to make more than $200 million in DVD rentals, sales, pay-per-view, and TV broadcast. If the box office covers the film’s initial cost then good, but no big deal. The execs in Hollywood rarely get it wrong these days. There is almost an eerie parallel between a movie’s budget and its box office performance. Don’t expect Clooney (or Julia Roberts, Jody Foster, or Denzel Washington) to lead in a $100 million budget pic unless it’s an ensemble. These folks may not star in the $200+ box office films but they always delivery. Box office is no longer the standard by which films are judged a financial success, so stop writing about it with a 1990’s perspective.
And by the way, Clooney has one of the largest international audience followings. Folks in Sweden will be paying to watch this movie.
Some estimates now are saying it will barely make 12 million and may end up closer to 11 million. Thaaaat’s really bad
Clooney = Box –Office poison.
Many people feel that Clooney is just a big vain jerk. Movie star – baloney. A former post said it convincingly – Clooney is off-putting to the average American and has done nothing to cultivate the “star” status that he and his pals think he is entitled to. Try shutting his big mouth ,once in a while, and maybe Americans wouldn’t see his stupidity so much.
Americans don’t like being told what to do and who to vote for by multi-millionaires. Bottom line. Brad Pitt and George Clooney, and the Dixie Chicks for that matter, found this out the hard way. I think it is hypocritical not to mention this in the article. The only reason people saw the Oceans movies was to see the casinos and Las Vegas. Why do you think 21 is doing so well?
Clooney is no movie start – he’s someone who has unreasonable media hype and fame, and yet the public refuses to budge.
You see I can’t get over Clooney as an actor and Clooney as a political activist. So that would be the reason, I won’t be paying to see his movie.
Keyword is “Entertain” your audience, one can be active in causes, but when they take it to the extreme we as consumers are turned off by actions and words.
So as consumers who do not have the forum to speak in front of cameras, the media and produce movies with a political message, we speak with the all mighty dollar.
Keyword “Boycott”
The only way I can convey my opinion of Mr. Clooney and his political opinions is to stay home. And that is exactly what I’m doing.
I am so. totally. over. self-centered, uninformed arrogant actors trying to sway the masses towards their liberal political positions. So. totally. over. it.
I can tell you why I personally am not spending money to see this movie. First and foremost I’m in the process of paying down debt and going to the movies is one of the many things I’ve cut out of my spending. However, if I WERE to take a break and treat myself with a movie, I would NOT choose a movie that he had anything to do with. I refuse to support the man in any fashion. I do not support those who abuse their publicity by spouting off on politics and/or religion as if they themselves were educated to any extent on the topics. He is an actor and that should be that. This is the message that I send to these actors. I spread this ideology to my friends and co-workers who also boycott these charlatans, usually without me giving them the idea. America is tired of these pompous blowhards who believe they speak for us or tell us what we need to think. If they reverse their behavior starting with a public admission of their errors, then maybe we’ll stop pushing for a smoldering end to their carreers. Maybe.
Some great thoughts on this posting, so thanks Nikki for providing a forum to discuss!
As someone who works in the industry up here the frozen north, it seems that (unless you are in denial and believe that in fact all the neg comments about Clooney here, including mine, are made by the same 3 people from Dick Cheney’s basement) the studio execs and researchers need to listen to a significant portion of the movie paying public who have been totally turned off by him and his over-eagerness to shove his political views down everyone’s throats.
So, he has compromised his brand. No problem with that, that’s his right. I just think that unless he’s willing to put up his own money to fund movies, that people risking their careers to greenlight movies starring someone who is so controversial is just not a great move….especially at the $60M range.
Every day, Clooney has a pedestal to voice his views. And then, occassionally, some of the little people (the ones who make our two great countries work every day) get a chance to speak out. A little Truth To Power, if you will. They have opinions too. So, take the opportunity Hollywood to read this whole thread, and think about the message you’re getting back from the public. Who knows, it might be useful information.
This is what happens when actors become political and alienate 1/2 of the American public. As a former Clooney fan, I would not watch one of his moview now if they were giving away tickets for free.
Clooney has and always will be a manufactured star. He is handsome and suave in interviews and that is supposed to make him “Old Time Hollywood” (if you want Old Time Hollywood, rent a DVD of a Cary Grant or Alfred Hitchcock movie). Hollywood created him out of some tv success and now, after being told he is a star for years, we are expected to believe he is a star. Won’t see the movie, been disappointed in Hollywood too many times now to justify forking over $10+.
While this is a movie site, I believe his outspoken political views are harming him professionally. I personally will never pay to see a movie with one of the anti-American liberals! I’m by no means saying they don’t have the right to have these opinions, but as a moviegoer I also have the right and the power to NOT spend my hard earned money to see a movie with one of these liberals (Tim Robbins and his live-in, Martin Sheen, Clooney, Julia Roberts, Babs, etc.) That’s my choice and I’m sure there is a large portion of this country that feels the same way. Don’t believe it, think Dixie Chicks!
Clooney is caught in a time warp. He would have been great in the studio system. But he’s trapped. He looks the part and plays the part of the movie star. There just aren’t any. There are actors. I wish Clooneu was right.
Since this is an industry site, let me direct my comment directly to the industry. No one is going to see these movies because people in the industry creating these movies are pompous asses. The industry is out-of-touch with the American people and what they are willing to pay $10 to see. The industry tries to shove these blowhards down our throats because the industry thinks they know what’s best for the people. The industry thinks it’s so much smarter and more noble than the average person. GC who is part of the industry, should be catering to the Americans who would pay to see his movies. Instead of using the industry to spout his American Hating Views. Americans not seeing these movies are telling the industry to shut up about your anti-American views and supply entertainment.
George Clooney is more of an artist than movie star. He takes chances and produces interesting work that sometimes does not resonate in the mainstream marketplace. His work In Darfur shows that he is willing to walk it as well as talk it as far as his activism goes. The simple facts are, that if you make a good movie, it will eventually find an audience. All this political/personal stuff does have an effect, but I believe most people want to be entertained, enlightened, stimulated and moved when they go to the movies.
Clooney is a smug self absorbed jerk foisted on the public as a “star” by Hollywood. His true immature behavior shows in his comments about the late Charleton Heston. Let me guess, the “spin” will be that American audiences are incapable of “appreciating” Clooney’s “star qualities”. Too bad that motor cycle accident he had didn’t close the Clooney chapter.
George Clooney’s far left rhetoric has damaged his reputation. I will not watch any movie, program or event in which he participates. I know many people who feel the same way. His hateful, intolerant, bigoted remarks have offended many, many good people who love this country and are watching it be destroyed by people just like Clooney. I live in a left wing university town and the college professors are mostly haters. Infiltrating our colleges and universities was one of the communist goals to help destroy us.
I have not seen the movie yet, but I’m hoping for a great comedy like “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”, which is one of the best comedies ever. Clooney is best when he plays roles like this and leaves politics to someone else.
George can’t act a lick and he can’t hold a candle to the acting ability of Charlton Heston. Count me with those who would go see one of his movies if they were handing out money.
George Clooney has contempt for Americans. His politics spits in the face of average American. Just because someone has the ability to make people laugh or cry, doesnt make them intelligent.
This movie was a dumb idea. Cloony may be an “okay” dramatic actor, but not everyone can do comedy. The kid from “The Office” is good on that tv show. Maybe he needs to take some roles where he is not one of the main characters at first.
You’re right where are the brave Hollywood types who stand for the unborn?…Who put their lifes on the line to expose those who behead infidels for drawing a cartoon? Or dare to portray American war heroes who serve in Iraq, they are conspicously silent…
It is all about public perception of Clooeny! When Clooney gets in everyones face and rants about the politics… he takes himself to serious and then becomes unattractive as a “funny man”. Why is George Clooney playing a funny man? He is not the least bit funny! I did enjoy Michael Clayton. Not because of George Clooney but because it was an interesting movie. George Clooney has type cast himself right out of most movies
I don’t like Clooney’s politics and he smug attitude. I also don’t like the media always trying to promote him and telling us he’s a superstar when 99.9% of the population doesn’t give a crap about him or even know who he is.
I don’t know why you guys are so pissed off with Clooney for??? I’ve met him a couple of times (don’t know him at all- was at different bars in NY and LA) and he was always very gracious and friendly. He is responsible enough to not become a dad if he doesn’t think it fits in his life, he dates amazing looking women, makes tones of money, DOES WHAT HE WANTS IN THIS LIFE for a living, and is one of the few “mans men” out there…WHO DOES NOT WANT TO BE GEORGE CLOONEY??? Do you guys get pissed off at the CEO of an oil company making $250,000,000 a year (while you pay $3.50 a gal at the pump?)—HIM, NOT THE COMPANY? No! This is an insider Hollywood story and how much a company like WB may want to pay him down the line…it’s not like he won’t be making movies anytime soon…this is silly talk.
bottom line: actors/musicians etc…that venture into the political arena get what they deserve.
Yawn. Liberal,anto-American “star” flops at box office. This is weekly occurance now and really shouldn’t be news anymore.
debtisslavery.blogspot.com
I’m with those who say they refuse to support an anti-American film-maker/actor. Screw ‘em. I’m not sending them any money.
Cloony was amazing in the facts of life, along with Blair antd Tootie.
I hate liberals that cant even comment on a movie without bashing Bush in the process….You know what I dont care about the global warming hoax, i dont care if other countries hate us, I dont care if illegals dont have any rights, I dont care inner city kids dont have school books because the city’s tax dollars from the democratic proposed over rides went in the pockets in the form of pensions to retired city councel members that were friends of the mayor! That’s right that happend right here in the liberal city of Boston. retired school superintendent making 125k on a pension….That’s not GW’s fault That’s not the result of a “Tax cut for the rich” Thats just Democrats being Democrats! If JFK were alive today running on the same platform he ran on when he was elected… Guess what he would be a republican! That is how far to left the democrats have gone! Now who is the extremist….Liberals ha ha you make me laugh! half of you are still feeling the affects from all the acid you took in the 60’s. it’s bad it wasnt crystal meth you were taking back then because then you would be either in jail with meth mouth or dead….what a shame!Now do me a favor pretty please with sugar on top go get your fuckin shine box!
He should keep his mouth out of politics; his career wouldn’t be over.
Clooney, although he gets a lot of play for being a big star, is not, on the other hand, and you can check this out, Adam Sandler, who’s not considered a great leading man, seems to have a BLOCKBUSTER almost every summer!!!
…also, if you want comedy, a much better pick!
Arrogance = failure. I stopped paying to see his movies a long time ago. He assumes his save the world crusades mean something? Bottom line – he’s a shitty actor who’s talents would best be served for television in a fake Emergency room – at best…
I love watching his continued failure.
Hey, weirdos -
Get a clue. Your redundant comments about Clooney being anti-American are not needed.
Read the comment log. It’s been said hundreds of times.
You people not only can’t stick to the topic (ahem, the MOVIE, this being an industry site and not a political blog), but you can’t even articulate an original thought.
Say something origianal or go channel Joe McCarthy elsewhere.
Hollywood needs to understand that people wont go to a film to support a left-wing kook. It’s that simple. It’s not about the lack of quality scripts or projects that’s keeping people away, it’s that Hollywood keeps funding projects populated by liberal actors/directors. I like Clooney…but now that I know what he stands for, I wont put my money in his pocket.
I’ll go see the” vegie tales” movie before i see anything Clooney’s in.
Clooney has class. That’s a sure winner in what
American culture has become. After all, there were
NO CAR CHASES! No one was slaughtered. What’d ya expect?
I very rarely go to the movies anymore. I have given up on Hollywood.
When Sorrywood figures out that we want to see our country as the good guy, then I will see their movies again.
I am in agreement with some of the posters, that I will not go to a movie that has certain “haters” in the movies!
Number One on the list is Jane(Hanoi)Fonda. What is sad is that many of our younger adults do not know how Un-American she is. They do not know that Jane went to the prisoner camps, and praised the Vietnam military for fighting against the Evil USA. She had her picture taken sitting on a cannon, which was used to shoot down our airplanes. Who knows, maybe McCain was shot down by their cannon. McCain who was being tortured for 7 years, and had his arms pulled out of the sockets so many times, he is in constant pain. Jane has never apoligized for keeping the hopes of the enemy strong, so they kept fighting.They kept fighting,because of haters like Jane
Fonda and John Kerry protesting the war, in which we won every battle, but we couldn’t win against the media which was against the war. Thanks to the mass media, our soldiers came home to people spitting on them and calling them baby killers. And let us not forget our Hollywood motion pictures which have degraded our soldiers as well. During WWII Hollywood made movied to keep the spirits of our country high, and now Sorrywood makes hate movies to get a Democrap back in office, just like they did with Vietnam!
Haters: Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Jane(Hanio)Fonda, Dixie Chicks, Barbara Streisand, Robert Redford, Leonardo DiCaprio,Meryl Streep,Mike Farrel,Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Bruce Springsteen, Martin Sheen, Charlie Sheen,…..
I don’t think Cloony’s film Leathernecks didn’t fall at the box office due to his politics. In fact the film didn’t get much publicity in fact. A studio can run short tv ads but marketing it right still has a lot to do with it. Leathernecks didn’t get much advertising play in my opioin. This can make or break a film. For instance look at th success of 21. It got a lot of ad play and word of mouth. Also it’s based on a true story. I bought the book becouse of the film just to see how they’re different.
Also remember that Leathernecks didn’t get as much cinema exposure. When u have cinema houses closing in smaller amd medium markets that too can affect the outcome of a film. Would some of u agree?
Stat Man,
Thanks for the data. It looks to me that Johnny Depp is underpaid since he’s a better actor than all of those other clowns on that list put together.
Politics aside, the movie wasn’t have bad. The banter between he and Renee was fun and the score by Randy Newman was spot on. My wife and I enjoyed it..
Dear Hollywood:
Please do not listen to the crazy few posting over and over on this site.
Please do not let these crazies hijack our films the way they hijacked this country the last 8 years.
These are the screeching voices of a few.
Clooney’s career is nosediving because he was never a film star to begin with. Has nothing to do with politics.
He is too old.
Hollywood writes off women after a certain age, but the same applies to men. It’s just that the studio CEO’s are older men and they don’t want to accept that an actor of similar or younger age is considered old.
Emma Lee, it is pathetic that you can’t stick to the subject, i.e. the movie
It is also pathetic that you have to reach back over 30 years to a Jane Fonda incident to substantiate your tempter tantrum.
It is also interesting that you draw a parallel to Vietnam which like Iraq was a losing quagmire where we had no place being in the first place, where too many Americans were wrongfully slaughtered, where we had to pull out just like will happen in Iraq.
McCain’s life was ruined for nothing, just like 4,000 American men and women have been murdered in Iraq for nothing, and still counting.
It is people like you who hate America, hate the troops. This country is circling the drain big time from the grotesque spending and debt of this war, with no end in sight. You hate America and you have caused the demise of this country.
Meanwhile, Bin Laden is still around, Afghanistan is under funded.
WWII was a just war.
Not every war is a just war, not everything is a movie where it’s good vs. bad, and the good guy wins.
Speaking out against one’s government and thinking for oneself is the MOST American thing one can do. Instead of parroting Fox News and accusing everyone who disagrees with you of being anti-American.
People like YOU are the danger to this country.
I saw Leataherheads at a free screening and enjoyed the movie. Sure it should have come out in the fall, but I liked it. By the way, I do not pay (go see movies)to see movies with left wing movie stars. I boycott Julia Roberts movies, Jane Fonda ect. You should too.
steve w
“Cloony’s film Leathernecks”
Leathernecks are U.S. Marines. My son is a Leatherneck. My father and I were Leathernecks.
Movie or not. George Clooney is no Leatherneck. He’s a Leatherhead that doesn’t wear a mask.
And we stay away from any movie with anti-American actors like him, and that veritable corral of lefties that think we want and need to hear them. They should have just shut up and acted.
Hey Hollywood,
I don’t think you have to worry about conservatives and moderates “hijacking your films”. You’ve got a lock on the industry so don’t fret.
Movies I stay away from due to the in-your-face politics of those involved would include any with: Clooney, Sean Penn, Oliver Stone (W will be a bust), Robert Redford, Susan Sarandon, Whoopie Goldberg, Alec Baldwin etc.
They have every right to state their views in whatever means they want but should not be surprised when some people are as turned off by them as others are when Tom Cruise preaches Scientology or by Moonies in the airport.
Yeah, and Ricardo Maxwell is a real name too? LOL Think anyone is fooled by that, moron?
The problem with these actors is similiar to what your “mama” used to tell you about speaking in public. Don’t discuss religion and politics. Clooney is such a rampant liberal it is almost scary. I wouldn’t go see him in anything because his political views transcend any great talent he may have. Remember, Hollywood, there is a huge moderate and conservate audience politically who cannot stand all the political negativity coming from Hollywood.
It’s always entertaining to see a bunch of egomaniacal, narcissistic blow-hards get all worked up because they can’t differentiate between CRITICISM and CENSORSHIP. No one is trying to shut down Clooney’s right to express his political views (regardless of what you may think). But it’s the height of hypocrisy (and an extreme case of narcissism) to think that, just because someone is critical of your views (and votes with their wallet, as it were), they are somehow trying to shut down your ability/right to speak your mind.
I think back to the Tim Robbins/baseball hall of fame controversy a few years back — the guy got his panties in a bunch over the whole situation and what happened? He got a big, well-attended press conference at the National Press Club that was broadcast on telelvision. Gee, if that’s what is considered censorship these days, things sure are tough. Not.
On a side note, if the budget for this movie was $60 million, I’m sure that nearly half of that was for the outrageous salaries of George and Renee…
Right-winger here. I really like George Clooney, he’s one of the outspoken liberal actors whose politics don’t interfere with my enjoyment of his work (same for Alec Baldwin and Tim Robbins, but not Sean Penn) and he’s been in some great ones. So I’m not a frothing loon and I didn’t follow a link from Drudge, I come here every day.
Why the low box office? This looks like a good movie but not one I’d see in the theatre, I’ll catch it on dvd. There are too many choices for my free time and with kids I’m more inclined to take them to see Nim’s Island or something like that.
I never minded George Clooney until the media hailed him a diety and now they constantly go on about how “gorgeous” he is. I mean, the fawning that he got at the Oscars this year was so over the top (reminding me of a bunch of horny school girls) that I immediately became a non-fan. If someone is actually gorgeous than we don’t need to have it rammed down our throats. I can see gorgeous on my own thanks. And I’ll decide for myself who is and who isn’t gorgeous. And Clooney is not gorgeous. He was cute when he was younger (like that Golden Girls episode) but he looks so greasy now. He’s not aging well at all. And the smug factor is off-putting as well and the fact that he’s always surrounded by his adoring and fawning star friends. Nathan Fillion is cool (and gorgeous). George Clooney is not.
Yes, please continue to discount 40-50% of the country…you will be even more irrelevant as time goes on.
As to the person who said this film didn’t get a lot of publicitiy…I don’t know where you live but here in MN, I saw ads for this movie incessantly. It might be the cable stations I watch (mostly A&E, History and Discovery) but I saw a lot more ads for this movie than I did for 21.
The only thing of Clooney’s I liked was when he guest starred on the Golden Girls back in the mid-to-late 80s…
Read the comment log. It’s been said hundreds of times. — Boring
Amazing! George Clooney is actually not all that after all. My God, this is news?? George Clooney is an arrogant ass and has been for years. The only spot I liked him in was Roseanne back in 88-89 — that’s it. He’s overhyped. And for the idiot who wants to put him beside George Bush for comparison, please!! George Clooney would never have the foresight to bring democracy to the roach nest known as the middle east. He’s only interested in himself and his publicity and his shallowness. I’ll take the hick from Texas rather than this nephew of Rosemary Clooney any day. (Oh, shhh, don’t tell anyone, but actors are paid to act like other people. It’s not really them. . .remember. . .shhhhhh)
Read the comment log. It’s been said hundreds of times. — Boring
So has the “Bush is evil and responsible for everything that is wrong with this world” BS. Maybe if the “industry” wasn’t so delusional about what the public wants to see and hear they might put out some better movie fare. Unfortunately, they choose to live in a bubble.
To “Comment by Hollywood,” apparently you feel when someone wins elections they are “hijacking” the country. The only way, I would guess, the country cannot be “hijacked” is if your candidate wins. Of course, anyone who assumes that people who feel differntly than they do are “crazies” is probably suffering from cognitive abnormality anyway, so I’ll cut you some slack. Now go back to your hash pipe.
This movie could be #1 and make another $30 mill overall if Clooney had the common sense to take out the S-word and the “A-H” word which gave it a PG-13 rating instead of PG.
How old is Clooney? 50? Am I supposed to believe him in some football role? Give me a break. Does John McCain play linebacker in this film?
Clooney is crippled on the inside, and most everyone can see it except for those pathetic leftzis.
I agree that politics is not really the problem, except with perhaps a relatively small percentage of moviegoers.
I do not agree that he is too old. He is about the same age as Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, and Will Smith. Not much older. But they all look 15-20 years younger than he does. His looks seem to be declining more rapidly than they would otherwise because of a serious substance abuse or other health issue. It is definitely not genetics. I’m not sure if the sleazy women age him more rapidly or slow down the aging process. But his association with them has significantly damaged his fan base because they tended to consist of better educated professional men and women who thought he was both intelligent and fun and thought he would grow up eventually. Not any more.
The comments about the UN were dead on, except they left out the part about Clooney taking the go-go dancer to Italy to receive an award from the UN and upstaging fellow award winner Don Cheadle, who has done more actual work to help resolve the crisis in Darfur. Since he chose not to upstage his own day, maybe the UN officials just wanted to see the go-go dancer choose a proposal on resolving the crisis in Darfur from one of their many options by getting down on all fours and licking it before they reached a decision. She has experience.
Yeah!! Listen up Hollywood…Keep putting this trash out on the market with silly overpaid lefties and keep losing money,but if you were smart you would fire every actor who kills your sales with their mouths,but the fact you put up with it means your just a fuggen Death Cult Propaganda Socialist pushing organization that needs to be shut down before you harm this country.
You fughead actors who want to be worshiped on a daily basis can all kiss my a**!,I don’t know wtf makes you different than the average garbage man except you get a camera shoved in your face so E TV can have their daily dose of misfits,and if the sh’t ever hits the fan in this country..YOU BASTARDS BETTER ALL HIDE!,fly you a** to Gilligan’s Island and stay there!
George W. Clooney does it again…he bores us to tears with a totally unfunny movie released at the absolutely wrong time of year (MLB Spring Training anyone?). The movie was not all that appealing to me and I am a pretty average guy. I don’t go swaying to one side or the other without getting the facts so his political rants don’t mean a whole to me but it does seem like he’s a bit of a hypocrite…blaming President Bush for everything under the sun then scooting around in his private jet supporting Mumia the Cop Killer or some other leftist nutjob.
Today’s movie stars are the “Pitts.” Find another John Wayne and I’ll go to the movies.
I would say that when you see an overwhelmingly dominating theme on a web sight like this–that Cloony’s in-your-face politics have hurt him–you can’t just dismiss it as aberant drudge-induced flood of wing-nut vitriol, and then label those who espouse this view as “nuts.” But then, only two loonbats took this approach anyway, out of hundreds of posts. So I guess that makes them the deviant, logic-impaired, outliers, who probably don’t do much thinking about anything anyway–but, I bet they are probably great emoters………like so many of the under-educated hollywierd pseudo pundits whose careers are drying up because they can’t cut it–smart wise…
Matt Drudge could link to a grilled cheese sandwich recipe, and the comments there would probably be the same as the ones here.
All thes postings have given me some optimisn about other people. I thought I was living in my own little world. I’ve always thought Clooney’s acting was average at best, and I have always felt the ONLY reason he is so hyped in the media and by his fellow ‘actors’ is that he LOUDLY talks the liberal talk and walks the liberal walk. Remember his rant at the Oscars about Hollywood being progressive by giving Hattie McDowell and oscar when other industries were not publicly supporting blacks? And what role did the almighty progressive Hollywood that George so proudly aligns himself with put her in? – the role of a southern mammy. Way to go George!
Haven’t seen it….no interest…tired of wasting my hard earned money on so so films.
Oh, SURE< like as if Americans will spend money enriching an anti-freedomite slob like clooney. We long for the day that the tumbleweeds blow around Hollywierd as the cheap scum starved to death.
You people need to get over the $100M gross number. In this age of 3500 screen releases and ticket prices more than doubled over the past 15 years, $200-250M is the new benchmark. $100M should be EASILY makeable by any movie with any appeal. Think about it. On 2000 screens, that just amounds to $50K per theater. Open the 1st week at just 2000 viewers per screen (FOR THE WEEK!) at $7.00 a ticket (averaging for matinees) and that’s $28M!
For Clonny to take just $17M on 1700 screens amounts to $9600 per screen or $600 per screen per weekend. That’s just SICK!
George “Coattails” Clooney is not now, nor ever has been a “movie star”. He’s never been in a movie that filled theater seats that didn’t have 2 or 3 other “stars” in the same film. I’m not sure why it has taken Hollywood 20 years to figure this out.
My only chance to register my unhappiness with Hollyweird is with my wallet. And it is staying in my pocket.
Ben Dover
Until Hollywood realizes that you have to pay writers instead of overpaying actors they will produce nothing but stinko movies. They also rely too heavily on computer graphics, I do not want to go to the movies to see video game graphics that I can see on my PC. As for Wil Smith he must be the product of White guilt, his Omega Man ripoff stunk too.
“Hollywood, don’t listen to the crazies”, I would have to say you are a great voice to the Loony Left.
Chavez wants more of you.
Ilene Dover
Clooney,I have NO use for him and would never watch his movies he either directs or is in.He is a left wing fascist,and so is the hollywood crowd.These people forget who put them where they are at today.So clooney, I hope you flop like your movie,BOYCOTT HOLLYWOOD…
Problem is George plays a role in this film that should have gone to a younger man. George is at the age that he should be playing a parent, a man in mid life crisis, world weary working man facing lots of problems, mature man roles. Instead he plays aging playboy roles over and over. He is not a Robert Duvall or Michael Caine type. Most of his movies have been serious movies which should never be expected to make much money. For some unknown reason the HW powers love and promote him, when actually he is not a very good actor. This movie is supposed to be a comedy but he is not funny. I don’t care what his politics are, that’s his business, but I go to the movies to be entertained. Saw this movie, ReneeZell was terrible, no way JohnK would be attracted to her. I did not like Micheal Clayton and he should not have been nominated for an Oscar. I am looking forward to seeing Burn After Reading, it has a great cast.
despite the box office ‘fumbles’ (yuk,yuk)
The Ocean’s movies have made over 1 billion at the box office.
He was nominated for an oscar this past year for Michael Clayton. ( a film that cost 23 million and made 40 million in the US)
He won best supporting Oscar 3 years ago for Syriana..and was nominated that year for Good Night and Good Luck.
What is he supposed to do? Make all those terrible Nick Cage/Russell Crowe/Tom Cruise type movies and make money at the box office and not be able to look at himself in the mirror? please…save your Clooney tears…despite the disappointment of the film’s opening weekend, his career is fine and HE is a movie star. ps..oh yeah, the millions he’s raised for Darfur in the last couple of years show he’s a jerk.
Clooney’s career is due to politics. As in Hollywood politics. His aunt is Rosemary Clooney. His dad was the biggest TV News Anchor in Ohio and was an Anchor in LA for awhile. George went around town in the early part of his career talking about how tough he had it when in fact he was handed work left and right. He’s not very bright yet goes on like an expert in all things political. Hopefully his career will go into the shitter where it belongs. However, with all the ass-kissing work he does for the Marxists that run the movie industry, that’s doubtful.
Won’t go see it – won’t see any of his movies. Just too smug and self absorbed, thinks everyone gives a sh*t about his views. Shut up and act.
Plus – did anyone see Renee Zellweger on Letterman? She looked like Skeletor. EWWW what happened to her?
For cryin’ out loud Renee, have a sammitch or something.
Not interested
I used to be a brain dead liberal. Read David Mamet’s recent piece in the Village Voice if you want more clarification on that.
As long as the movie industry is obsessed with portraying America as responsible for every bad thing in the world the people will stay away in droves. Why would I lend support to people like Clooney and Sean Penn who enhance their standing in Hollywood by flashing their leftist credentials in my face? That is their right of free speech, just as I’m not obligated to watch their productions or agree with their politics.
Hollywood liberalism has nothing to do with art or entertainment. It’s just the same activity of the leftist thought police at work in our schools, the news media and the studios. They get very flustered and confused when anyone disagrees with them– or when we don’t sit in their theaters to watch their propaganda.
Leftist newspapers have seen their circulation plummet, Hollywood hemorrhages viewers. One day they may realize we would like to see the truth reflected in their writing and film, not just their “truth”.
And by truth I mean showing that business is not always evil– it creates jobs that allow people to buy movie tickets.
That America is still where people come when they want the greatest measure of freedom.
That this country has sacrificed greatly to help the world. More than the French, more than the Russians, more than the Chinese.
That communism and socialism are total failures and kill the human spirit, and that free markets are the real equitable way for people to get what they need!
And that is my long winded explanation why Clooney’s Leatherhead pic didn’t do so well.
God, get me down off this soapbox. Thank you.
DUH~
Speaking out against the media and thinking for oneself is the MOST American thing one can do. Instead of parroting CNNCBSNBCPBSMSNBC News and accusing everyone who disagrees with you of being fascists.
Fixed.
Cloone stuck his nose into politics and other venues which he has the right to do as an American, but when most of America saw how far left wing he was that was his downfall. Besides, he’s not that good of an actor, anyways. he shudds stayed with that sitcom that I never watched and have no idea of the name of it.
I like George Clooney.
Gooney like most of todays Hollywood are anti-American and mainstream America understands it. May the Hollywood elite and folks like Ted Traitor Turnor,Hanoi Jane and the rest of the hate America first crowd rot in Hell!!!! The silent majority is now rising up and will hurt the bottom line of Hollywood. God bless Charlton Heston, John Wayne and actors America really loved!
I have no doubt that all of the folks here screaming about actors having the gall to form a political opinion must surely have felt the same about the actor named Ronald Reagan. Also, there was that other actor named Charlton Heston who was very vocal about his politics…I’m sure he must have been boycotted, too. And, just recently I heard about the HUGE boycott against Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yeah…’cause no one here would be hypocritical like that….no one here would only boycott those they disagree with, right?
Riiiight.
First of all, a disclaimer. I’m a conservative Republican and very proud of it. Yes, I disagree with Clooney’s left wing rants. And yes, I believe they have hurt him. However, I thought Michael Clayton was brilliant. As was GC’s portrayal. I think this guy just needs to rethink his public persona a bit, choose better movies and roles, start putting the movie going public first, his wacked out political views second, and do a total Gene Hackman makeover. Start over with his career. Choose roles first that portray a role moviegoers want to see, and that project a persona of a decent hero. Not another confused whackjob role. Not a nutty role. Not an anti-hero, and certainly not a role that preaches to anybody about anything. Those roles only confuse the public image of the actor. Your brand is very confusing, Clooney! Audiences want to know what they’re getting when they slap that money down. They only want slightly off center performances, but never a total reinvention every time. If you are board playing roles people want to see, get out of the business. A tip from a moviegoer: Seek to entertain first. Perhaps let somebody else pick your roles and shape and guide your career for the next few years. Today these stars can’t even begin to imagine giving up the reins to someone else. But chances are no one else in their right mind would have chosen Batman as a role for this guy.
Wow what a bunch of Clooney haters. You live in a country that stands for freedom, democracy and free speech yet if someone stands up and speaks you are beside yourselves with rage and loathing. You’re all hypocrites.
I’m not a huge fan of movies lately or in particular George Clooney but whether you like it or not, Clooney is a movie star. True, his movies are not all hits and they don’t earn the most at the box office but that proves nothing and is of little importance to anyone other than the studio heads and investors. There are plenty of horrible movies that make huge money and there are plenty of great movies that make no money so what does that prove?
Clooney is a stand up guy and I would guess his body of work and social endeavors will far outshine anything any of you haters will ever achieve in your entire lives.
I have read this long list of comments and I realize people are tired of being told they are living in a rotten country. They are tired of the self appointed Hollywood “elite” telling them how to live. To make matters worse the people telling them are usually actors whose major accomplishment is that they have been to rehab. To all those upset with the poor quality of “Leathernecks” wait until Oliver Stone releases “W”. If you are dumb enough to go be sure to bring a “barf bag”.
Loony Clooney is just another example of this hypocrisy. Remember when actors were people who did their job and supported their personal charities? They did not get out and tell us how to live, what to believe in or worse that we don’t know as much as they do. The actors of today think just because they made a movie they can lecture the world on how to live or what to believe. Playing a doctor on TV does not make you a medical expert. Playing a soldier does not make you an expert on international relations. Being a dope addict or a homosexual does not give you the right to tell me I should support that activity. Some of these Hollywood types spend hours telling us that because they have had numerous abortions they are experts on planned parenthood by testifying before Congress. I can make my own decision whether to go to the XYZ church or not go to a church at all. What I choose is none of their business and I don’t need nor want them telling me how to worship or vote. Who the heck made them an expert?
I pick and choose the movies or TV shows that I watch. If an actor that I think has overstepped the boundaries is in a movie/TV show then I WILL NOT support that film or show. Why would I spend money on something that forces me to stare at someone that insults my intelligence. Most of today’s actors are product of media hype, can’t act and are carried by the special effects. If I want to watch something that phony I will watch the presidential debates.
Cloony is a second rate actor with a big obnoxious mouth. He is propped up by the same anti-American types that produce all of the blame America first shit that has come out of Hollywood for the last 8 years.
Get it straight Hollywood libtards, as long as you continue to put forth this anti-Bush, anti-military, anti-America propaganda, you will continue to lose money.
Since this is an industry site, I’ll add my thoughts on why the industry is not raking in profits from this humble consumer.
1. I’m done with self absorbed celebrities and their political causes. These people are tiresome and boring. Their arrogance grates like fingernails on a blackboard, and I will no longer contribute my entertainment dollars to enrich their lifestyles.
2. Movies where the heavy is always, white, male, christian and conservative are the standard. Sadly. In fact, saturation level has been achieved and the levee over the damn has broken. What about making a movie where the heavy isn’t conservative or christian?
3. Movies with the consciousness raising theme. Gag me. I go to movies to be entertained, not to have my country, my religion, my principals and values mocked and insulted.
4. I support the military. I won’t pay to see a movie where the United States military is treated in a shameful manner.
You in the industry have free speech and can make what you desire. Me and others like me, whether I found this site on Drudge, and whether or not you’ve labled me an evil right winger, are your consumers. And as far as I’m concerned, I’ll continue to spend my precious entertainment dollars where I choose. That’s my free speech.
Clooney just got his comeuppance – good timing for his box office flop. Some years back Clooney joked about Charlton Heston having Alzheimer’s disease. When questioned, Clooney said Heston deserved whatever was said about Heston for his involvement with the NRA. Pray Clooney too will become enlightened just the way Charlton Heston did as he grew older and wiser.
Yes, GC should have been the next Cary Grant, but he didn’t go that route, which is too bad, he may not have the timing but he has the physical grace and looks. Oh well. Now he’s stuck in between the young people who bother with going to the movies, and who might find him too old, and older audiences whose tastes and interests have been marginalized by Hollywood. No-man’s land.
“Please do not listen to the crazy few posting over and over on this site.Please do not let these crazies hijack our films the way they hijacked this country the last 8 years. These are the screeching voices of a few.”
What nonsense. we can’t “hijack” “your” films — all we can do is not pay to see them, you moron.
Hollywood is the only business I know that thinks it can spit in the eye of half its customers — and then claim it’s the customers’ fault that they don’t buy their product.
Clooney, in addition to being a so-so actor, is typecast as a leftist loon by conservatives and ordinary Americans who don’t hate their country Those people, who make up roughly half the country, can’t separate his looniness from his characters, and so…..they don’t pay to see his films.
End…of…story.
Ditto Holywood’s anti-Iraq war movies, which uniformly…..bombed.
Even if the crypto-fascist Obama or open-and-notorious leftist Hillary win the next Presidential election, that will not change the attitudes of non-leftists/non-fascists toward left-wing actors who shoot off their mouths politically.
I also wonder why the left told us to shun Mel Gibson’s movies UNLESS it was because his politics and attitudes were bad. Funny how it’s always a one-way street with the left.
Clooney is just a Jane Fonda, hate America.
Football is a man’s sport. He is a poser.
I won’t spend a dime on Clooney or any other “star” that hates America. Now or in the future. Clooney has long since jumped the shark.
The guy below me is a genius. Agreed!!!!!!!!
Hollywood needs to stop trashing the United States of America. Hope,Crosby,Gable and Stewart didn’t support enemy causes!
I can’t watch any movie that has Actors trying to inject liberalism, homosexuality and the hoax (global warming) into the plot. George Clooney could be a good actor if he would just shut up, or change his liberal flapdoodle ideals. The viewing public are way smarter than the hollywood left elites.
Hello?!? Hollywood?!? The numbers show that flyover country has all but abandoned you, your social values, your political values, and generally does not like anything you do or stand for.
Why don’t you raise the ticket prices a few more bucks so you can make your numbers again. You Hollywood types are going to have to see movies 2 and 3 times to support the likes of George Looney.
Remember Julia Roberts? Haven’t heard much out of her since she shot off her mouth trying to curry favor with the left have you.
You may conclude, therefore, that we don’t like you, we think you are bad for families and the country, and we won’t spend a dime of money or a second of time to listen to your drivel.
Hugs and Kisses Dear Losers.
“porjectionist” said it best above. And I’ll add that because I am not focus-grouped when it comes to these movies, every time Clooney makes a film that I can avoid, I consider it my vote AGAINST him and his viewpoint. He doesn’t have to like or agree with my opinion, and I don’t have to pay to see his work. I think that’s a fair trade.
For me, a movie has to be really really good in order to watch someone like George Clooney. Simply because of his outspoken political views. Some people don’t understand this concept, but it’s true. He uses any platform he gets to share his political views. I have no problem with it, but I just won’t see his movies. If someone wants to have his views, that’s cool, and I know much of Hollywood does, but the ones who care about not alienating a fan base don’t continously yap about politics. I feel Clooney is more like a political activist who makes movies rather than an actor, and that’s how I see him on screen in any role. I doubt I’ll even rent this movie. I don’t dislike him personally, I just don’t like the way he always talks about his views, which I disagree with. My sister-in-law was a HUGE Clooney fan when he was on ER, but as soon as he started yapping politics all the time she can’t stand him anymore. I’m sure Clooney doesn’t mind. But is sure has polarized people’s view of him.
Clooney is a big mouth know it all just like the media. That is why hollywood and the east coast love him but the rest of us don’t. Get a clue. You all live in a bubble and try to speak for everyone because you know better. It is actually quite funny.
As soon as actors and the “intellectual elites” realize they are not “more informed” than the rest of us, maybe people will like them again…
I wonder why you people crowd into the big cities with all of the crime and things you cry about if you are so clever.
Back in January 2003, George Clooney said,”Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer’s.” The insensitive joke being that because of Mr. Heston’s Alzheimer’s, he had forgotten he had already announced it. I think it is apropos that today as people are remembering Mr. Heston for his body of work, his family is acknowledging what a good husband, father and grandfather he was, Clooney’s football movie fumbles. Clooney justifies his comments that because Heston belonged to the NRA he deserved whatever happened to him. So, if Clooney comes down with some dreaded disease, conservatives are going to laugh and joke about it? No, that won’t happen. Conservatives value life, even Clooney’s. Liberals supposedly care about people, but the truth is they only care about people who agree with them.
Who gives a damn what George Clooney does.
Just because he has a Hollywood face and can imitate others does not make him the intellectual giant that he desires.
As for me he can pretend to be someone else on stage and I will pay to see him. Or he can become another James Carville and I will switch channels.
Most Americans have had enough of the failed dogma of Marx and company.
Tis nothing more than “intellectually” justified slavery under another name!
There is something to this Sowing & Reaping thing….
Hollywood, with a few minor exceptions, has now become Holly-TRASH. i.e. Deviants, perverts, debauchery, America bashing, God mocking, and Christian hating permeates just about the entire industry and its products.
Member, “Not So Silent Anymore Majority of Americans”
George C-Looney is just another actor. That is – someone who pretends to be something he’s not. If these Un-Holywood people had to hold down a real job, they wouldn’t have time to spew out their anti-American bilge.
Ron Norris. Proud (legal) immigrant. God bless America.
I’m sort of sad this forum will probably be winding down. It’s been great to have an exchange of ideas.
I really enjoyed reading many of the posts and reading so many interestingly expressed points of view.
I almost wish I could invite everyone over for a buffet or something and keep the discussion going.
I’ve always been a fan of George Cloony’s, simply because I like to look at him. However, watching “Michael Clayton.” I was just looking for some kind of change in facial expression, I honestly could not find any, even in the scenes with his son, I wanted to believe he actually loved his son, but it came out so cold. He wears the same expression in every scene. He is like a lot of other actors who look good but can’t act…Robert Redford, Cary Grant, Brad Pitt and so on.
I am chuckling at all these comments. Long live America! I am conservative and always shudder when I hear those like Clooney go off. It’s just offensive. It’s arrogant. I work at a small private prep school. Ultra lib. The folks are really nice! Really. But totaly intolerant of those who don’t march to their drumbeat. I mean really inflexible and actually visciously intolerant. They way Clooney strikes me as being. Almost as bad as a rightwing fire and brimstoner, and, honestly, I run into the lefty version of intolerant nut like 10 to 1 times the other type, which now seems like an Archie Bunker sitcom stereotype more than your average joe you meet.
One black gal posted here and was a self-professed libera and made some good points, but she identified with Darfur in association with Clooney who is also supportive of Darfur, I mean who wouldn’t be. But the husband of a colleague at school had a Save Darfur t-shirt on and when I mentioned Spielberg’s boycott of China, he had no idea of the connection. I think a lot of libs are like that. They got religion, they just ain’t got any theology. And it is a religion.
I’m not a fan of Clooney but I think hes a good actor. What I don’t understand is why the media goes gaga over an actor who can’t open a movie. He is no Will Smith or Tom Cruise, now those guys can open a movie, not all the time but they do bring in the numbers. Thats what bothers me about Clooney is that he is over rated. Just like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, they can’t open movies either. I remember I was listening to the Howard Stern show a while ago and he was reading off the most influential people in the Media. Clooney was one of them, even Stern was surprised and said that it was Clooneys publicist who put his name on the list. Anyway, over rated actors make alot of money and I don’t know why. Anybody.
I don’t go see clooney’s movies. Do not like him.
Hollywood wonders why they are not doing as well.
All you have to do is go back in time and see what type movies you put out and people flocked to see them.Now they put out trash and garbage. You will get some that will spend money to go see that, most don’t any more. Your older actors and actresses had class and children could look up to them. Most of what is performing now are trash, like the movies.
Most people want entertainment not lectures or Hollywoods opinion on politics or any thing else.
Movies do influence children and they know it. Why do you think they brought out Shirley Temple and comedy during world war two. To make people laugh and not be depressed….
Hollywood should wake up but they won’t
If Clooney said as much left-wing basing as the comments on these threads, I wouldn’t go to his movies either…
That said, I agree with the sentiment that I don’t care to hear the actors speak about politics. Now good-causes like Darfur, poverty, good deeds, helping in a crisis, that’s all great stuff.
And George Clooney has worked hard to bring Darfur to the American consciousness. And Brad Pitt has put his money where his mouth is on helping out the poor rebuild their homes in New Orleans.
Seems that those who blast Clooney also seem to be unconcerned about their own tendency to ignore what they don’t like to hear…
“Timing is everything” He should have held the movie back from release until football season….I may have done much better imho
George Clooney represents everything that is wrong with Hollywood today. He is smug, condescending, hypocritical, and preachy. I wouldn’t want him in my home at a dinner party and I sure as heck wouldn’t shell out 20 bucks to go see him in a movie. He makes a name for himself spouting off on political issues when it is least appropriate and he simply is not a likeable person to many Americans.
These actors want to get all political between movies and turn off half the population and wonder why they cannot fill seats lol
The poor fellow just can’t seem to click with most of the population. First, his politically motivated films do not seem to have their desired impact, and now we find his comedic efforts are falling short as well. I think he should try westerns next, maybe that’ll work for him.
He’s not that big a star. People here are right about the only big movies he’s been in the new century have been the Ocean’s films and those had Pitt and Damon in them. He’s still pushed as the ‘last big movie star. Hey, Damon had three hit films by himself. Want to rethink that.
GC is only one of the Hollywood types who feel that if THEY make an important film that it’s important. Here’s to the indies who make important films all year long and do not have startpower, budget or PR…just REAL creativity and balls.
I don’t have anything against Mr. Clooney – he seems like a nice enough fellow. However, his movies are atrociously boring (that Edward R. Murrow film was beyond indulgent). It surprises me that anyone today, and Clooney is a good example, can be labeled a “Movie Star” and the audience and media accept it without question. Last night a true “Movie Star,” Charlton Heston, passed away. Like him or hate him, there’s no denying Heston was a movie star. John Wayne, who made well over 170 films, was a movie star, Robert Redford is a movie star. Warren Beatty is a movie star. Mr. Clooney, with just a handful of screen roles under his belt, is no movie star (although I still contend that he seems like a nice guy).
Bravo! Comments are well stated. But do want to see Leatherheads with Clooney as Johney Blood. But I don’t think football from the twenties is going to grab a
young or international audience.
Just a bad movie. Acting bad. Script fair. RZ miss cast. Clooney not a mans man and comes across somewhat light in the the loafers Not Worth 8.50.
“Leatherheads” is Clooney’s “Lucky Lady.” Anyone remember “Lucky Lady?” Exactly. “Lucky Lady” was a depression-era homage starring Burt Reynolds. Remember him? Exactly.
*** Warning – the following comments are not even remotely industry related – they are purely political and are completely made to push my personal agenda (like everyone else here – but unlike most here I thought I’d be up front about it! LMAO at some of the comments here…***
Not even going to comment on the movie – haven’t seen it so won’t bother.
But I have some questions and comments – if as the right is saying “we took the fight to the enemy” why tf haven’t we been able to catch Osama Bin Laden? Probably ’cause Bush Sr. is too cozy with the Saudi’s. For a military that has such high tech equipment available to use – I mean we’ve got infrared cameras in satellites that could zoom in and find a zit on most of our asses, I find it amazing that we haven’t been able to find him and shove a scud up his scrawny ass.
As to WMD’s maybe they had them and maybe not – but we now know they don’t – so what are we going to do – keep our troops there for years like Vietnam to just decide – okay enough and let Iran take it over anyway? WTF is the plan? Bush is still “staying the course” but I think he lost his compass years ago.
What Bush and his oil friends are doing is laughing all the way to the bank. When all is said and done, they’ll all move their money to Switzerland and retire to some island where they can walk everywhere they want to go.
We’re not American citizens we’re f’ng morons that are now paying $4 for gas and have a dollar that doesn’t buy much overseas. So next time you want that Samsung 72 fricking inches of electricity sucking tv in your house, you’d better resign yourself to paying a hell of a lot more for it than before. When milk and bread get to be $10 a gallon and a $10 loaf then I think maybe we’ll have some of the right start to think differently. Or maybe not – they’ll just blame it on anyone that doesn’t agree with their opinion.
I say let’s vote for McCain so we can get gas up to $10 bucks a gallon too – but make sure you buy some oil stock and make sure you walk into the polls ’cause after you won’t be able to drive anywhere!
The Dems are idiots too. The infighting between Clinton and Obama will cost them support. And I think Clinton should go crawl under a rock. I’d like to see a woman in the White House but not this one! If she couldn’t see her husband was playing with interns and cigars then how the hell is she going to see the big bad bogey man coming? Three a.m.? WTF? is that all about? Tunnel vision is still tunnel vision no matter what time it is.
Clooney has the right to air his political opinions just as everyone on this site has done. And those who agree or disagree have the right to comment too. That’s what America is all about. What concerns me is that too many comment without listening. To have an intelligent discourse means more than one person talks and more than one opinion is heard. But from what I’ve read on this site it’s all repeated bashing of the other side with no attempt to even look at what could be common ground.
I think both sides want a strong, safe America with a stable economy. Based on the comments from those on this site who seem to lean to the right – it’s unAmerican to oppose the war but in the same breath use the deaths of the Americans as proof that they are better citizens than others. When does death prove you are better than anyone else? I support our troops and I understand they have to obey orders – but I certainly don’t want any more Americans being killed. Those who say we took it their shores in essence are saying – it’s okay that so many of our young men and women are dying over there to keep our country safe. Just as long as it’s not on our shores then it’s okay. Wave the flag honey and smile for the cameras and say hello to Billy who’s in Afganistan wondering why he can’t just go up to that compound and bomb the crap out of it.
WTF are you guys going to do when it comes over here? All our young people will be either dead or maimed – who will fight then? And to me, to say that we took it to them sparks of cowardice. Why? Because as all you good ole boys are driving your Ram trucks and getting two miles to the gallon – we’ve got kids dying over in Iraq to make sure you can make it to Gilly’s for free beer night.
Get a grip folks.
Both the right and the left need to take a long hard look at America. Is this what we really want? People losing their homes to foreclosure? People losing their jobs? Kids dying. Economy in the shits? Farmer’s losing their farms? Truckers not being able to afford to bring the food across the country because the price of gas is so gd high?
Someone please give me a candidate with some answers – not just shouting out who’s to blame.
Reminds me of a portion of that speech from the American President – apologies to the writer as I’ve pulled this portion from imdb site and I’m not sure if all is correct here but I think this commentary about a political candidate sums it up for me:
“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours…
…I’ve known Bob Rumson for years, and I’ve been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn’t get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob’s problem isn’t that he doesn’t get it. Bob’s problem is that he can’t sell it! We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.”
For all the Bob Rumson’s on this site – left and right – let’s look for solutions. I have yet to hear even one viable solution from either side.
The timing for the movie was bad. If your target audience is male sports fans, you don’t open the weekend of the Final Four. I was thinking about going to see the movie until I realized I would miss Saturday nights games.
Hey, weirdos -
Get a clue. Your redundant comments about Clooney being anti-American are not needed.Read the comment log. It’s been said hundreds of times.You people not only can’t stick to the topic (ahem, the MOVIE, this being an industry site and not a political blog), but you can’t even articulate an original thought.Say something origianal or go channel Joe McCarthy elsewhere.
Comment by Boring
Clooney is paying for his extremist political views.
Great Movie!!
Can you tell that this post was linked by a couple of batshit crazy right winger sites? Hilarious.
Now, you non-enlisting, non-thinking, non-IQ cave people can just scrape your knuckles back over to the holes you crawled out of. Don’t forget to look for WMD along the way.
I think it is ironic and telling that so many comments denigrate Clooney as an actor because he expresses himself politically while in the same breath extol the greatness of another actor without mentioning that actor’s strong political stances. I ask: why not criticize Charlton Heston’s career in the same framework….. Oh, I forgot. It’s the type of politics. Ane while I’m at it, because I feel srongly about an issue that the Administration is following doesn’t make me anti-American. Don’t judge MY career because of where I stand politically. Ed DeFalco
Actors and actresses who want both worlds, acting and a political voice that cries, “America is bad, bad, so bad”, soon find out half of their audience also has thought patterns, feelings and opinions that don’t jive, (I can use that word, can’t I? Jive?), with them. Who’d of guessed it? That same “different half” are people that would have otherwise provided the money that gives grease to the wheels of Hollywood. I’m older than most of the readers here, old enough to know the old classic actors and studio executives, new it would be financial suicide to choose one political side over another. Clooney and others should rightly think it is unfair they can’t participate in politics. They can of course, but it comes at an almost always predicable cost. Are you listening Executive Producers, are you interested in seeing a return on your investment? Too bad if the people don’t like the actor’s politics, because, since there is an item to be sold and purchased; the people’s voice will always speak louder and more effectively than any actors EVER could. They speak with their wallets, and therein lies the power, good for them.
Story first. Imagary second. Pushing an audience’s traditional belief in story is better.
George C. is an actor.
Hollywood, I beg you to first and for most spend the money on the writers. Dreams and visions can’t be bought, but somehow as watcher, we can be welcomed into to your story.
Dream on always. Take me to a place that is in your mind and place that I ask your welcomeness to be there and I will spend so very presicous moments being there with you.
Again, George is an actor. His value is as much as a prop. But, a story, a good story is something I want to hear.
See J.K.Rowling beautiful and worth every dollar. She ahd an incrediable long story to tell and not added on additions.
Take care.
Sam
Essex, MD
a.k.a. Imustbecrazy
I don’t understand why so many people have such acrimony for George Clooney. Yes, he is a little too “political,” and his box office numbers aren’t as high as one would think, but he is a good actor. I saw Leatherheads this weekend, and I thought it was a good movie. It wasn’t as humorous as “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” but it still had a charm all its own, which is the je ne sais quoi that most Clooney films have. As someone previously stated in this thread, his films don’t possess the over-commercialized garbage in most contemporary films. In other words, he’s one of the few big-name actors out there who is still an artist and not a money whore.
Wow, another clueless blog of lost republicans.
409 Comments for George Clooney?!?
I just don’t get it. It’s not like he’s John Fitzgerald Kennedy back from the dead in a new comedy. It’s George Clooney people, playing George Clooney. Screenplay by George Clooney, directed by George Clooney, and produced by George Clooney.
Okay, in my opinion here is where the movie marketing and distribution campaign went wrong. They fuckin’ released a football movie in baseball season! That’s like having the Academy Awards on Halloween. This film would have been number one at the box-office if it was heavily promoted to football fans during Monday, Thursday and Sunday Night Football.
The NFL should have been a marketing tie-in partner to add a little legitimacy.
Where is the rags to riches to rags underdog story build up in the trailer or TV spots? Where is the hint of a true love story?
This movie makes Will Smith’s success look genius inspired.
This is what happens when an actor directs, write and produce the same movie. They have no objectivity.
I think George Clooney is a great guy and a master leading man. But he is not funny. He’s Cary Grant not Red Skelton. He’s Atticus Finch and not Lt. Frank Drebin.
Hey, Will, if you’re reading this I have a period Negro League baseball story I want you to do. It’s called BLACK SOX. Call me…
Clooney and acting shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence.
I love how all of you idiots yearn for another John Wayne yet every year when Hollywood tries to revive the western nobody shows up.
Why not practice what you preach?
Clooney = Traitorous Lib
I won’t let a $ of mine go to him.
George Clooney is a terrible actor.
Not because he is a liberal.
Not because he is an idiot.
It’s because has has no talent. Handsome, but without charisma.
Denzel Washington is an actor.
So is Russell Crowe.
So is Kevin Spacey.
Anthony Hopkins is an artist.
Tom Cruise can act.
Will Smith seems like a cool guy with lots of charisma.
Actors get to have press conferences and presidents who can’t put a sentence together get to rape the country for trillions of our children’s tax money.
You know you’re afflicted with BDS when you can’t comment on a story about George Clooney without bringing up George Bush.
I think Godwins Law needs to be revised.
mla28 hit the bull’s eye. Clooney is a horrible actor. The smugness which makes him unwatchable is only exceeded by the arrogance that this dimwit no talent uses to compare himself to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin with his putrid celebrity-sodomy Oceans films. Repeat after me: George Clooney is a horrible actor; George Clooney is a horrible actor; George Clooney is a horrible actor.
well, while all you sad-sacks waste precious hours of your days posting comments on a little ol’ website, I’m laughing all the way to the bank. #3. Check it: NUMBER THREE MOVIE IN THE COUNTRY. Compared to the last boring thing YOU accomplished last…? Go on, keep blogging lame-brians. Especially this Anonymous person – can’t come right out and say it to my face can you? Wimp.
At 47, Clooney is too old to be believable as a football player. The whole period thing is also strange.
There are 2 basic types of actors, those that are movie stars(Tom Cruise) and those that are great actors(Kate Blanchet).
Clooney is neither. He doesn’t have charisma onscreen or warmth. He thinks smirking into the camera equals charisma. He has exactly two facial expressions-smiling and not smiling. He’s not funny. He’s not charming. And, although the magazines tell me I should find him super sexy and handsome, I do not. His head is freakishly huge and square. And, he has no upper lip. Clooney is as empty as his political rhetoric.
One reason western revivals fail is because we no longer have the kind of movie stars who can carry such a film. The western requires a strong, dominating screen presence. John Wayne, James Stewart, Clint Eastwood, Burt Lancaster, Newman and Redford could carry a western on their backs. Today we have no actors with such screen presence or charisma. I liked “3:10 to Yuma” but Crowe and Bale are better actors than movie stars imo. Brad Pitt in “Jesse James” did a good job, but I’ve never considered him a strong screen presence. Pitt was out of his element in his scenes with Peter O’Toole in “Troy”. The passing of Charlton Heston only underscores the fact that we have very few (if any) actors left who truly project a domiating screen presence.
That would include George Clooney.
Ever since he made that very nasty comment about Charlton Heston, (may he rest in peace), one of americas greatest – just hearing the name Cloony makes me gag.
Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillion are another two nothings
I have enjoyed a couple of Mr. Clooney’s movies, but I am another person that cannot stand hearing self-rightous, indignant Millionares/Billionares spout their “hate America” views. I will not see another movie of his or any other like him.
If Hollywood wants to put butts in seats they are going to need to start putting out movies that the heart of this country wants to see, and frankly Hollywood has no idea that they don’t represent the heart of America.
My wife used to love George Clooney. My sons played college football and I coached football for 20 years. You would think we would go see a football movie. But like me and many, many other friends, she will not give one penny to him since he spewed his politics. Keep it up Hollywood. You are failing at the box office for a reason. People have had enough of your liberal rants and are showing their displeasure at the gates.
I don’t get the whole George Clooney thing.
kdizzle, just because you mention you’re off topic doesn’t make you and your post about being off-topic any less stupid. And for all you that hate hollywood and love to tell it to pull its proverbial head out of its ass. First pull yours out and stop being so bitter. Then go act, write a movie, produce, be a success in the field of entertainment. Once you’ve surmounted that massive obstacle. Then see how fucked up the public treats you. No matter what you can’t win. Because some people will be bitter and pissed off about your success Then they’ll write all kinds of shit about you on internet forums signed as “anonymous or some stupid moniker like kdizzle”, and they will forget that you’re a human and feel it is their right to be an asshole towards you. It amazes me how angry and psychotic people get about people who try to entertain them.
Funny stuff for any football fan. Unimpressed critics will have mud on them just like the losers (and winners) in the final game of Leatherheads. Good job Mr. Clooney!
& yes his career is mostly media hype. Amazes me the entertainment media never gets tired of pushing the same stars, Clooney; Julia Roberts; Ben Afflack ?? Why push their movies? IF they were worth you money you’ll hear that from friends (word of mouth).
As an audience member (and a staunch Republican), I can safely say that I would in no way consider this movie if John Krasinki were not in it. I don’t care about Clooney’s politics in terms of movies like these; it’s not like it’s that upcoming movie on GWB or something. Rather, the ads just made it look like a “wacky” love story. As a very big football fan, I would have no desire to see it based off of the ads save for the aformentioned reason. Thank God The Office has such a big fan following.
If Clooney would keep his big pie hole shut on his political beliefs, he might just do good at the box office. I thought the movie looked funny, but I just can’t seem to watch him anymore after his political rants. Shut up and act!
I don’t care if Clooney makes movies that are good or bad. As long as he uses his “status” as a so-called actor to preach his so-called “morally superior” politics, I will not see any of his “films”. Conservatives are simply tired of Hollywood and it’s political correctness. Maybe that’s why it’s anti-Bush, anti-conservative, anti-anything that they don’t believe in or agree with movies and commentary are destroying their business at the box office.