When Will We Get Another Great Blockbuster?

I am certainly not suggesting that there have not been any terrific films in recent years. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was superb. Chicago was clearly a winner. Traffic was harrowing. Minority Report was no slouch. Mullholland Drive, my favorite film of the past few years, had a decidedly creepy elegance. Add to these the devilishly clever Memento, the brooding Croupier, the charming Amelie, the manipulative but effective Erin Brockovich, the engaging Analyze This, the troubling The Pianist and quirky little numbers like The Good Girl, Adaptation, In The Bedroom, and Ghost World, and you have a lineup to be proud of. But none of these films--none of them--has the combination of quality and popular buzz that we associate with Gone with the Wind, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, The Empire Strikes Back, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The African Queen, High Noon, Raiders of the Lost Ark, From Here to Eternity or Doctor Zhivago. These days the top-grossing film on the first weekend of the month has collapsed by the third week of the month-- and not just because films now open on so many screens that everyone who wants to see them can belly up to the ticket booth immediately. The real problem is: Hollywood hasn't been making juggernauts that get everybody pumped up and keep everybody pumped up. Black Hawk Down didn't have the enduring emotional power of Platoon or The Great Escape. Pirates of the Caribbean isn't Mutiny on the Bounty. T3 is no T1. And Chicago isn't Oklahoma.

By every measure, the first decade of the 21st century is shaping up as a dud. Four years into the new century, we have not seen a horror movie as good as Scream, a tearjerker as good as An Officer and a Gentleman, a romantic comedy as beguiling as Four Weddings and a Funeral or a sports movie as good as Bull Durham. There has not yet been a sci-fi film on the same level as Aliens, a comedy as funny as Ghostbusters, a thriller as good as Speed. Part of the problem is that the older directors are not as good as they once were, and a lot of the younger directors are not good at all. Gangs of New York is not in the same class as GoodFellas. AI pales beside Jurassic Park. George Lucas stopped making interesting movies decades ago. So did Woody Allen.

In the World Series last year, the California Angels, who nobody really cares about, played the San Francisco Giants, who never win anything anywhere. It was a memorable series, but the ratings were dismal, because the public hates sporting events that have no storyline. Personally, I think that something like this is going on in the movies. Though he stubbed his toe on A Mighty Wind, Christopher Guest's previous outing, Best in Show, was one of the funniest movies of the past quarter century. But cunning, acerbic little films like Best in Show can never capture the attention of the American people the way My Best Friend's Wedding can. The American people need blockbusters. And blockbusters worth remembering have been hard to find so far this decade.

This is not to say that small-budget movies cannot reach a wide audience. The Blair Witch Project, a classic case of an entire society succumbing to mass hysteria, is one example. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is another. But they are aberrations, flukes. The fact that My Big Fat Greek Wedding is now the most successful romantic comedy of all time gives you an idea of what a piss-poor decade this has been. What this society, what this industry, really needs is a big, engaging, thrilling blockbuster that we can all leave the office early to see.

And we need it now.

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