I am thoroughly confused this Sunday, January 27, 2008. The American public has let me down in such a way that I can’t find explanation. Meet the Spartans finished #1 at the domestic box-office with an estimated $18.7 million. I really don’t know what to say about this other than ask the question, “Would you admit to seeing Meet the Spartans?”

The obvious follow-up to that question is “Why?” but I am of the opinion that no one in their right mind would own up to watching a movie that I hardly even knew existed. Where is the humor in a film like that? Who can actually sit down and laugh at a bevy of fart jokes and obvious punch lines that could have been written without a second thought?

What’s even more depressing is a list of films I have compiled that performed worse than Meet the Spartans in their 2007 theatrical run. Here is an abridged list of Oscar nominees that made less than Meet the Spartans did:

• Into the Wild ($17,760,235)
• Eastern Promises ($17,266,000)
• There Will be Blood ($14,764,000)
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ($3,135,000)
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ($3,897,691)
• The Kite Runner ($13,873,000)
• Once ($9,439,923)

If I wanted to look beyond this year’s nominees I wouldn’t have to go far with last year’s The Last King of Scotland at $17,606,684. Obviously the crowd going to see Meet the Spartans is a different crowd, but I can’t help but wonder what the demographic of that crowd is.

Are they high schoolers? College kids? Who? I have a hard time believing that anyone with a regular job would pay to see this, and I would hate to believe that anyone making minimum wage would choose to waste their hard earned money on a film Fox would never even dream of showing to critics. Minimum wage here in Washington is $8.07 an hour, which would mean someone would have to work approximately an hour-and-a-half just to pay for a regular ticket to see this movie. Is that what is happening? If so I am not sure if I am more ashamed of the people wasting their money instead of saving it, or of Fox for putting the film out in the first place and bilking these folks for the money they should be spending on something more worthwhile.

This, of course, is simply my opinion, but I don’t believe I could find anyone in the circle of folks I know who would go see Meet the Spartans, and if they did I am not sure they would admit to it.

Related post categories: Editorials, Features : Meet the Spartans

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