Apple's got this QuickTime movie preview running for a new movie by called 21 Grams from Focus Features. Sean Penn's in it. Benicio Del Toro's in it. Naomi Watts is in it. It's directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. The movie's supposed to be pretty good.
I really really hope so, because the preview's been driving me up the frickin' wall more each time I'm forced to sit through it. It's been showing in theatres around town seemingly before every bloody film I choose to go see.
"They say we all lose twenty-one grams at the exact moment of our death," the preview narrator's voice (sounding an awful lot like Sean Penn) announces. "Everyone," he continues, "twenty-one grams. The weight of a stack of five nickels. The weight of a chocolate bar. The weight of a hummingbird."
Let's see. "A stack of five nickels." Did you know that a nickel weighs exactly what two dimes weigh? That means a stack of five nickels weighs the same as a stack of ten dimes Now, according to the logic of the universe where Focus Features comes from, such a stack weighs twenty-one grams. They're close. A single nickel is 4.5 grams (whereas a dime is 2.25). So a stack of five very clean nickels would weigh 22.5 grams. Alright. So they're off by 1.5 grams. Here, let me stamp your dramatic license.
But wait. "The weight of a chocolate bar." A very, very small chocolate bar. Did you know that there are 28.35 grams in one ounce? When was the last time you bought a chocolate bar that weighed less than an ounce?
Read the full story here: http://www.brianstorms.com/archives/000215.html.
Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
Stoners would know what real world equivalents to 21 grams would be, for sure, like how many dime bags that would be.
2 - fact checker
I'm sorry but you are wrong too, a nickel weighs 5 grams. to be exact it's 4.9456, but 5 grams on most digital scales.
3 - Sandra Smallson
The important thing is that it is a fabulous movie with fantastic performances all around. The only downside being you come out of the cinema depressed. Still, I will be adding it to my DVD collection. I do not care how many grams I lose at the point of death. It would be too late by then to be happy about it.
4 - Delalandre
Hi,
if I must die to loose a poor 21 grams weight excess, what should I do to reach 21 kilos less ? I hope I will not be led to kill ten innocent people... I'm sure there is a soft and more efficient method ! Seeing this film will already lighten my pockents of some unusefull coins; so, it could be the first step !!
5 - tweezy
Ok, the movie was good. No doubt. And even though it may seem that a few people here went too far with the whole 21 gram not being correct, you have to admit, there is a very strong point to be made.No, the movie makers arent scientist,but IF you are going to actually carry a TITLE "21 GRAMS" and then attempt to make some really deep "meaning" at the end, using 21 grams, atleast they could have made sure what they were saying actually had some truth to it..I mean, come on.. The movie IS CALLED 21 grams...Seems like someone would have done a little research before making statements that were basically supposed to sum the entire 2 hour movie up.