Round and round the Movie Merry-go-Round

The shows we love to hate and love to simply love are back. Again.

It’s the same rule that applies to movies. You go to cinema to see the latest rom-com, dramedy or action film on cheap-as-chips Tuesday but through your incessant crunching of popcorn and friends slurping on a coke, a sense of déjà vu is louder. You ponder, “Haven’t I seen this before?”

Well, ladies and gentleman this probably comes to you as no surprise, but you have.

Seems to me, that the cinematic exploration and exploits is all down to a game of “Snap”, for a while there films were all so different, and it takes a while before the same cards begin to show, and “Snap” here we are folks.

Think about it, The Killers (2010) starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl about the relationship between a spy and his girlfriend and then wife. Does that sound familiar to the film Knight and Day which starred Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, released in 2010? Heck I watched both films and the only difference I could make out was the height between Kutcher and Cruise.

They say that impersonation is the sincerest form of flattery but it well and truly is not sincere from the audience’s perspective. Sure, the cinema of Tuesday is cheap but still money is going out of my pocket to see what essentially the same film. Entertaining? I think not. Bloody annoying? I think so.  

It might make cross referencing for all you neat freaks out there a lot easier when it comes to films however, it begs the question, why can’t Hollywood can get new ideas, even if they come from books, can they be different please?

A current example is that of the film Friends with Benefits starring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake, earlier in the year the film No Strings Attached was released with basically the same premise and starred Ashton Kutcher and Oscar winner Natalie Portman.

Once a great idea comes up and at the movies rakes in the cash, everyone jumps on the bandwagon, and for a period there the idea in hand becomes like crack to other producers; unable to refrain from making an eerily similar movie.

So Folks appears that this Movie merry-go-round is going for another turn. Buckle up and let déjà vu do the rest.