The Weekend of Village Idiots

So The Village was number one at the box office this weekend (box office nerd fact: on the same weekend two years ago, Signs made $60 million). What Gothamist took most comfort in were all the stories or references to "village idiot," from Michael Agger's examination of M. Night Shyamalan's directing style on Slate (Agger's verdict: M. Night ain't all that) to Adrien Brody's actual character in the film, because the Village Idiot (the bar) closed this past Saturday. Many a good time was had, as well as many a vomitous time - farewell, Village Idiot.

Was The Village all it was cracked up to be? And what about the twist? Slate's David Edelstein and the NY Times's A.O. Scott mention that the twist is obvious, yet most moviegoers would reject it. And who knew that movie premieres in Brooklyn existed?

Also, the Post gives NYers a list of "bawdy bars" still operating, like The Patriot (owned by same owners as the Village Idiot) on Chambers Street in TriBeCa - and they have sliders besides scantily clad bartendresses - and Hogs & Heifers in the Meat Packing District.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Arts and Events, News on August 2, 2004 12:47 PM

Comments [rss]

rmg

I loved this movie - it's a lot of fun. Yes, I guessed PART of the twist, not all of it. But that didn't detract from the fun I had. Go see it!

jen h.

A friend of mine calls him M. Night Charlatan.

How simple is the "surprise" ending? Put it to you this way: I did not see the film, but I figured out the twist from watching the trailer!

As David Edelstein in slate.com put it, "The expected Shyamalan twist here is actually a cinch to intuit; but most viewers will, as I did, reject that intuition as both too obvious and too far-fetched."

(BTW, if you want to confirm your suspicions and save yourself $10.25, go to http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/xlvillage.html)

joe

"Signs" was so moronic, shallow and cynical that I came close to revealing all the addle-minded plot twists to people waiting in line to see the next showing. Sad to see more than six million people went to see The Village this weekend...

CJ

Why not make a film about the wildlife living in Central Park,talk about interesting creatures, like Patrice,who screams obscenties in addition to Beatles songs to passers-by? Or the people that occasionally live in the trees. Now that would be a box-office winner.

Kurt

The movie itself is cynical... And panders to prejudices about city life. I would have been offended, if it hadn't been so stupid... If it doesn't tank in its second weekend, I suggest we turn the rest of the country into a wildlife preserve.

ziegfeld

Part of me wants to do whatever I can to reveal the spoiler and discourage people from seeing this film. So much of the interest in it has been driven by its marketing campaign, rather than the inherent quality of its content (plot/acting). Technically (sound design/score/cinematography), it's impressive, but that's about it.

And the references to MNS as the "Master of Suspense" and the new Hitchcock are absurd...diPalma (to be continued)

Jess

I enjoyed The Village for its beautiful scenery and characters, but the actual plot and shocking twists were cheap. I'm not one who typically predicts where a movie is going, but within the first half hour I had unravelled the entire story. The fact that I read the book "Running Out of Time" in 4th grade might have helped.. skim it and you'll see that the movie contains just a few uncanny similarities to an elementary school novel.

rion

i liked the Village. bryce howard and joaquin phoenix delivered, i dug the chupacabra creature design, and the music, pacing and suspense builders were on the mark.

they're just fun suspense movies, and yet they're all rooted in the theme of belief which adds a whole other level of scifi. the critisism just sounds cynical... where's the enjoyment of a hitchcocky twilight zone style that stands out in a hollywood system where a lot of movie's suck?

eyean

haven't read any "the village" reviews yet but the bbspot trailer review would suffice...

;)

apu

i went to that patriot place when they opened. talk about trying waaaaaaaaaaaay too hard to be something that's not really all that interesting in the first place.