Last week, 21 surprised the pundits by arriving solidly in the top spot. A week later, it was not expected to repeat that performance, especially in the face of competition featuring George Clooney, football, Jodie Foster, and family fantasy. Once again, the blackjack-centric movie defied the odds and held onto the top spot.
Granted, the weekend was a bit soft, but it still won out. It had a strong audience hold as positive word of mouth spread, despite my personal reservations (for what that's worth). In any case, it did have a good second week showing that will help its legs in the long term. It is an entertaining movie and it will be interesting to see how it fares as we work through what looks to be a slow month leading into a very busy May.
Hot on the heels of 21 is the new family-friendly fantasy outing, Nim's Island. This was the one new wide release that I did not have much interest in. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but it failed to pique my curiosity. It has a good cast, led by Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster, and Gerard Butler. Despite my lack of interest, it did succeed in bringing out the families to the theater, and there is nothing like sharing a movie-going experience with one's kids (not that I know what that's like).
Even closer to Nim's is the latest George Clooney outing, the period romantic comedy, Leatherheads. This proved to be considerably better than expected. It was more than just a period romantic comedy with football at its core; it is a throwback in tone and feel to the screwball comedies of the 1930s and '40s. It is a lot of fun and it is very clear that the cast had a lot of fun making it. This came in very close to the second place slot, and deserves to be given a shot.
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