Cinematical

In a response to his film's alarmingly negative reviews, director Ron Howard is nudging us with the claim that The Da Vinci Code has been far better received by people after the second time they see it. He was quoted by Reuters as admitting this claim is "hucksterish," and he seems a bit desperate since he found the critical response "frustrating." He is pretty certain that his movie will do great despite the media reaction, though.

Yeah, I don't think that Howard has to worry about The Da Vinci Code performing like gangbusters this weekend. With all the people who've read the book, all the people who wouldn't bother with the book but want to see what the big deal is, and all the people who are attracted by the controversy, not to mention the Tom Hanks fans and probably a few million scattered people without any significant reason at all, the film is going to perform tremendously. But Howard isn't happy with an opening weekend of $80 million, which is the projected ceiling it's being given by experts. Is he actually implying that if we think it sucks the first time, we should go again and it will get better? From the way the reviews are putting its faults, I can't imagine this is true at all. Perhaps there are some laymen out there who might need a repeat viewing to understand the whole thing better, but I doubt Da Vinci is more difficult to comprehend than most movies.

If anyone sees it twice this weekend, despite hating it the first time, let us know.