Witness the fates of Duma and When a Stranger Calls and learn that film criticism simply doesn't work.

Duma

Most audiences never got the chance to ignore this critically acclaimed Carroll Ballard (The Black Stallion, Fly Away Home) film about a South African boy who raises a cheetah since it hardly made it into any theaters before disappearing off the radar. But if you can't take the word of critics, I actually know a guy who saw this film and loved it and couldn't stop pimping it, and if you can't trust some guy I know, who can you trust?

The only extras seem to be some extended scenes, but I'd like to see a doc on how in the year of Grizzly Man and March of the Penguins, this couldn't find any traction.

When a Stranger Calls

In the year of Silent Hill and Final Destination 3, you can bet this found traction. Not screened for critics? Check. Awful reviews once if finally did come out? Check. You know what we call that in 2006? Box office gold. Well, $47 million, anyway.

Extras include director and cast commentary, writer's commentary (yes, there was one), deleted scenes, and a making of doc.

The Producers

Mediocre reviews and tepid audience response besieged this would-be Oscar contender and box office giant (successful musical with the original, much-beloved cast plus Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell). Apparently, it just wasn't the same as seeing it on Broadway, even if the chief complaint was that it was shot too much like a play and not a movie. Hopefully the same fate won't befall upcoming movie-to-musical-to-movie adaptation Hairspray, but who are we kidding?

Extras include director's commentary, outtakes, and deleted scenes.

The White Countess

Sadly, the last Merchant/Ivory film (Ismail Merchant died last year) did not receive the acclaim normally becoming a Merchant/Ivory film. Still, the story of Ralph Fiennes' blind club owner and Natasha Richardson's countess-turned-hostess in 1936 Shanghai won over at least half the critics that saw it. Lensed, incidentally, by Hero cinematographer Chris Doyle.

Extras include commentary from James Ivory and Natasha Richardson, some featurettes, and, appropriately enough, a tribute to Ismail Merchant.

The Ringer

This story about a guy (Johnny Knoxville, natch) who tries to fix the Special Olympics by pretending to mentally challenged got worse reviews than The White Countess, but better reviews than Memoirs of a Geisha. Go figure.

Does anyone else find it strange that this film has more extras than any of the other four? They include commentary from about twenty guys (including Knoxville and producer Peter Farrelly of the Farrelly brothers), sixteen deleted scenes (because you can make so many jokes about a guy pretending to be retarded), a couple of featurettes (one on the Special Olympics), and a message from the Special Olympics chair, just to show that everything's on the up and up.