With 'Law Abiding Citizen,' Overture could finally make some mayhem

By Steven Zeitchik

After two years, some impressive specialty results but no big openers,  (highest-generating wide release: "Righteous Kill," at $40m), the Starz-affiliated Overture looks to finally have a broad hit. And it took an absurd pulp movie -- though also a thrilling and fun one -- produced by another company to do it.

F. Gary Gray's "Law Abiding Citizen," which goes wide this weekend, is many things. Plausible is not one of them. The story of a justice system brought low by a one-time victim (Gerard Butler, even less convincing than usual) now bent on gruesome revenge on the D.A. who failed him (Jamie Foxx, solid as usual), various elected officials and seemingly the entire city of Philadelphia, has little in it that could be called high-quality. It's preposterously constructed, at times awkwardly directed and often hamfistedly acted. And yet it's irresistible. To not crave it is to not crave cheesesteaks. You know it's artificial and bad for you, but why wouldn't you have more? (Butler's character, a nihilistic killer with remarkable technical craftiness -- like Hannibal Lecter by way of MacGyver -- is especially fun to watch as he plays a cat and mouse game with Foxx.)

When the pic opens in multiplexes this weekend, there are likely to be gasps at the violent and dramatic parts (and we'll hold off on revealing the best one, except to say it involves an exploding cell phone and could have come from a Coen Bros. movie), laughter at the funny parts and, probably, laughter at the dramatic parts. There are deadly serious topics -- rape, revenge, justice -- and yet they come in a movie that doesn't demand to be taken seriously at any point.

The tracking for the pic is strong, and from the reactions to many of the serious and funny (and unintentionally funny) moments at the screening we attended, it's easy to see why. Even -- especially -- when the movie demanded reverence, you could hear laughter throughout the theater, the kind that says 'I can't believe filmmakers are trying to get away with that, but I'm going to go along with it anyway.' If 2009 will be canonized as a year for escapist filmgoing, "Law Abiding" will be the image that sits next to it.

In retrospect, it all seems logical, at least judging by the pic's component parts. Director F. Gary Gray has averaged more than $70m for each of his last four pictures while Foxx has done an average of $60m in that span. (If Butler gets tired of doing the paycheck schlock like "RocknRolla," he might turn out those numbers too.)

All of which is a good thing for those behind "Citizen."

This will be the first movie that the Mark Gill shingle The Film Department is releasing (though "The Rebound" awaits for whoever ends up releasing it). It's hard to know whether the returns on "Law Abiding" will justify the investment of the $40m budget -- a lot depends on how the distribution deal with Overture is structured. But when you start anything new, it's nice to come out with a hit. And we have a feeling "Law Abiding" will be one.

What will that mean for Overture? A company that thought it could produce mid-range movies and become the next UA hasn't quite found it all to be that simple. It's hard to imagine where other hits are coming from this year -- a splashy buy and spend for "The Men Who Stare at Goats" doesn't seem poised to translate to a breakout, and Michael Moore's "Capitalism" should turn out to be solid, but not "Fahrenheit 9/11" solid.

But it seems to have finally hit it on the nail with "Citizen." The Film Department wanted a theatrical deal for the pic and Overture smelled an opportunity, reportedly spending less than $5 million to buy it. Which means that even with a generous P&A spend -- there have been ads pretty regularly on late-night and male-themed programming -- it's going to come out on top if the movie does any business at all.

The latest rumor in the ongoing soap opera of John Malone is that the impresario won't sell Overture even thought he's said to be antsy, and theatrical films are hardly a growth business. There's something to be said for picking up movies in a buyer's market, distributing them with a modicum of investment  and hoping something blows up. In the case of "Law Abiding Citizen," in more ways than one.

Comments

[magnaflow 15741]

great move i loved it