Subpar trailers debut for 'Guilt Trip' and 'Lone Ranger'

Posted Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 5:01 PM Central

by John Couture

I'm not sure if it's a case of having my expectations set too high or that these trailers are just really bad, but we got our first looks at The Lone Ranger and The Guilt Trip today and I wasn't impressed at all. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that I didn't really have an opinion of either film.

If that's the case, then it's potentially bad news for Disney and Paramount respectively.

The Lone Ranger is an expensive Jerry Bruckheimer project that is Disney's tentpole picture for Summer 2013. After last Summer's whiff on John Carter, Disney can ill-afford to have two such bombs in close succession. That's a reputation that no one, especially Disney, wants to have on their hands.

To me, the teaser starts out promising enough, despite resembling a land-locked Pirates of the Caribbean, which isn't surprising given that director Gore Verbinski, producer Bruckheimer and star Johnny Depp were all together for the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films. Those films did OK, so that's not where the trailer goes off the rails for me.

No, that happened when about midway through the trailer it started to feel like Wild Wild West. That film did far from OK, so I'm sure Disney wants to put as much distance between themselves and that film.

But, it's only a teaser, so there's plenty of time between now and July 3, 2013 to fix things. On the plus side, Disney also has Iron Man 3 coming out in May, so there's at least one sure-fire hit for them in case The Lone Ranger bombs.

While The Lone Ranger has plenty of time to right the ship, that's not the case with The Guilt Trip. Set for a Christmas release this year, the counter-programming entry against Django Unchained and Les Miserables might just find itself buried by more than the competition.

I mean, it's a comedy, right? There isn't some sort of cancer plotline that they are holding back from the trailer to spring on us in the first act, right? A successful trailer for a comedy film in my book should elicit at least three laughs and a smile. The Guilt Trip left me scratching my head.

And the thing is that I love Seth Rogen and think his movies are hilarious, but I just didn't connect with this trailer at all. I'm not sure what it is, but all of the situations felt contrived and not the least bit funny.

I'm hoping they just saved all of the good stuff for the film, but the reverse is usually the case. Most comedies blow their load in the trailer and set you up disappointment. At this point, I'm not sure how much more disappointed I can get with this film. Which, I suppose, is a win in a way, right?