Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Why Do I Prematurely Hate Slumdog Millionaire?

On Sunday as I filled out my newest predictions and looked at Daniel's, I found both he and I were predicting Slumdog Millionaire as a strong contender, and, when the predix were accumulated, it turns out that we are predicting it to win Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

And why shouldn't we? Early reviews have been wonderful, there are few other contenders and it's about time that an independent dramadey took the top honor.

And yet...I just don't get it. I've loved all of the out-of-the-blue comedy contenders of recent years: Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways, Adaptation, etc. But I just don't feel the same way about Slumdog...at all. When I first heard the premise, I thought it sounded like a thesis film for a high school scriptwriting class. Obviously, I haven't seen the film, and there's still a good chance that I'll end up loving it like everyone else. But I just can't shake this feeling that I'll be the black sheep of this bandwagon.

We'll see how it plays out. What do you all think? Will Slumdog Millionaire be the indie hit of the season, or was its buzz short-lived?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel the same way. I just can't get behind it at all.

Anonymous said...

I prematurely-- or pre-emptively-- hate "Slumdog Millionaire" because (a) I hate Danny Boyle's hyperactive, throw-everything-at-the-screen-and-see-what-sticks directing style, and (b) his last film, "Sunshine," was so horrifically bad. Of course, we can blame ninety percent of "Sunshine"'s awfulness on Alex Garland's rotten script, but Mr. Boyle impugns himself by having agreed to direct said script. I'm not very forgiving, I guess, toward Mr. Boyle's genre-hopping, or what he does with the genre-of-the-minute once he's chosen it.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry. I hate it too. It just reminds me of bend it like beckham, the namesake and all those other bollywood/hollywood movies. umm.. but i'm prety sure this one's gonna be much better than the others.

Anonymous said...

me too me too I havent seen it and I already detest it.