I’ll be honest, I wasn’t going to write about this at first. After all, bringing attention to something like this is the best way to give it legitimacy and to encourage other people with similar derangements to do the same thing. But the weekend has come and gone, and others are writing about the story now, so I figure one more write-up won’t affect the zeitgeist too much. So for anyone who hasn’t heard yet, or for anyone who is a gluten for punishment, here we go:
A Michigan woman, Sarah Deming, is suing FilmDistrict claiming that the movie Drive did not live up to the expectations set by its trailers. Those expectations? That Drive would be in the same vein as “the Fast and Furious, or similar, series of movies.” She is planning on filing this as a class action lawsuit, meaning she thinks others were similarly disappointed and would not be ashamed to admit that.
According to the Deming, the trailers for Drive were misleading to the point that she deserves a refund of her ticket price. It doesn’t end there, though. Deming also wants all misleading trailers to be outlawed, effectively putting M. Night Shyamalan out of a job. She also claims that a movie in which a Jewish character takes time to explain the defamation he has had to endure throughout his life is itself antisemitic because he doesn’t flinch from using a word that has been used against him. This echos a similarly logic-impaired argument that was made against An Education. In that film one of the characters is met by antisemitism, and apparently the act of portraying antisemitism makes a film antisemitic. Following this logic, Spike Lee is the most racist filmmaker in American history.
Now there are a lot of easy jokes to make here. We have a woman who clearly has never had any kind of experience with modern advertising; is self-righteous enough to form a class action lawsuit, clearly under the belief that others will want to align themselves with her in this crusade; and she doesn’t understand that simply acknowledging that something exists is not the same as condoning it. The comedic mine is bottomless – but why should I have all the fun? Write your own hilarious opinions and jests in the comments below. Best one gets re-tweeted by me.
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Twitter: NeverTooEarlyMP
October 10, 2011 10:54 am
To be honest, I’d prefer to sue over trailers that give away the whole storyline or joke, rather than films like Drive.
Plus, I don’t think that the Drive trailer was that misleading. Maybe it’s because I actually read too, but it really has more to do with her expectations than with what the film or the trailer did.
But as a purely legal thing, this could be huge. Advertising is ALWAYS about misdirection to some extent. If advertising has to start being honest, it will be the end of advertising!
I just checked the calendar. It’s not April 1. I’m flummoxed.
This is probably the dumbest lawsuit since that hot coffee one.
Twitter: ptsnob
October 10, 2011 11:34 am
I think the next step is for people to sue for other “promised” events in the trailer.
Dumb filmgoer: “I thought there would be more nudity! It looked like they were going to shoot Tom Cruise in the head!”
Twitter: MarkusWelby1
October 10, 2011 11:53 am
As someone who writes a lot of film satire, I thought you guys were joking with this one! Absolutely hilarious. Maybe we can sue critics now if we don’t agree with blurbs like “Drive is a rollercoaster ride pure adrenaline and action”
Twitter: TapaidhNaomh
October 10, 2011 11:56 am
As a burgeoning film critic, I would prefer that people *not* be able to sue me if they disagree with me. My glowing review of Tree of Life would have bankrupted me.
Twitter: callmesirphobos
October 11, 2011 12:58 am
Ah, but if you had said Tree of Life was “a rollercoaster ride of pure adrenaline and action,” then I would have sued you.
Twitter: callmesirphobos
October 11, 2011 12:54 am
If you’re going to re-tweet something, I would say that this is like someone suing McDonald’s because the all-beef patty isn’t as hearty as advertised. Something to that effect.
I could see myself arguing in favor of bringing the ban hammer down on misleading trailers, but only if it’s really egregious. Like, oh, I dunno, if this was a real trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA
I love that trailer.
Someone else already pointed out the problem with trailers that tell you everything about the movie, so there’s that. But this lady is batshit insane for thinking this would ever be a successful class-action suit, let alone her being insane all by herself. Good luck with that.
Ridiculous. The losers should have to pay for all the court costs to prevent lawsuits like these.