I would have liked this movie if they had stuck to the main story instead of getting bogged down in some stupid young teen romance story.
John Goodman was interesting as a Grade B movie director of the early '60s, a kind of William Castle/Roger Corman/Ed Wood of his day. Goodman is good at playing a loud, obnoxious guy. He looks the part with his big stogie hanging out of his mouth and his clever ways of getting kids to come to the theater. He winds up in Key West, Fla., trying to promote his latest celluloid bomb.
With the aid of the real-life Cuban Missile Crisis happening just 90 miles away, and some teenage kid in the area, "Lawrence Woosley" (Goodman) attempts to get some good PR and put those bodies into the movie seats.
With that premise, I was settling in for a very enjoyable film - and I did enjoy quite a bit of it, but overall it got a little stupid and the story totally breaks down in the second half of the film. How many times have you seen that?
For instance, the teen violence at the movie theater was absurd, as was the supermarket-panic scene. In fact, most of the scenes with the teens are either poorly done or of poor taste and take away from the fun monster/sci-fi movie- story aspect that was there in the first half.
The movie-in-a-movie, "MANT," was a real hoot to see. I love some of those old '50s monsters-horror films. For giving them such a good plug in this film, it pains to me to say negative things about "Matinee." I loved the premise; it just should have been better, especially the ending.
John Goodman was interesting as a Grade B movie director of the early '60s, a kind of William Castle/Roger Corman/Ed Wood of his day. Goodman is good at playing a loud, obnoxious guy. He looks the part with his big stogie hanging out of his mouth and his clever ways of getting kids to come to the theater. He winds up in Key West, Fla., trying to promote his latest celluloid bomb.
With the aid of the real-life Cuban Missile Crisis happening just 90 miles away, and some teenage kid in the area, "Lawrence Woosley" (Goodman) attempts to get some good PR and put those bodies into the movie seats.
With that premise, I was settling in for a very enjoyable film - and I did enjoy quite a bit of it, but overall it got a little stupid and the story totally breaks down in the second half of the film. How many times have you seen that?
For instance, the teen violence at the movie theater was absurd, as was the supermarket-panic scene. In fact, most of the scenes with the teens are either poorly done or of poor taste and take away from the fun monster/sci-fi movie- story aspect that was there in the first half.
The movie-in-a-movie, "MANT," was a real hoot to see. I love some of those old '50s monsters-horror films. For giving them such a good plug in this film, it pains to me to say negative things about "Matinee." I loved the premise; it just should have been better, especially the ending.