Tomatometer Watch: One Missed Call Gets Billed a Zero Percent
Already a strong contender for worst-reviewed movie of the year.
During the 1990s, America made just two major remakes of
Japanese movies:
Last Man
Standing and
Godzilla. But ever since
The Ring made $128 million and a few careers in 2002, J-Horror remake
fever has gripped the studios (whilst giving critics a gnarly case of
J-Jaundice). The latest remake,
One Missed Call,
opened to a strong $12.5 million over the weekend and an equally strong
zero percent Tomatometer.
Based on the 2003 Takashi Miike movie, One Missed Call imagines cell phones as instruments of terror instead of the never-inconvenient tools they are today: If a victim answers their phone (presaged by an ominous ringtone), they'll get a recording of their imminent death. Upon its release critics spread the word of One Missed Call's merits, which includes, according to Ken Fox from TV Guide, "dull scares, [a] sloppy ending and a pair of unconvincing, leaden lead performances" from Edward Burns and Shannyn Sossamon.
eFilmCritic's Brian Orndorf
likens the movie to "a swift kick to the groin," while John P. McCarthy of
Box Office Magazine
calls it "so tedious that Alexander Graham Bell would have difficulty
staying awake." Those Film School Rejects
agree: "It's as if Vanilla Ice wrote the script, sampling elements from
The Ring and The Grudge with a dash of Pulse sprinkled in."
More choice calls amongst the 40+ reviews:
Slant Magazine: "[The] original 2003 One Missed Call was second-
Chicago Tribune: "If you missed the first One Missed Call, made in Japan in 2004, you now can miss the American remake."
Onion A.V. Club: "About as fresh and vital as a fifth-
The only recent comparable wide release is August's Daddy Day Camp, which plumbed the depths down to a one percent Tomatometer.
Recent J-Horror Remakes
-----------------------------------
10% -- The Grudge 2
(2006)
12% -- Pulse
(2005)
45% -- Dark Water
(2005)
40% -- The Grudge
(2004)
72% -- The Ring
(2002)
Related Items
| Movie: | One Missed Call |
| Celeb: | Edward Burns |
| Takashi Miike | |
| Shannyn Sossamon | |
| Eric Valette |
(1-20 of 24 posts) | Reply
on Jan 07 2008 04:59 PM How did that movie even make $12.5 mil? I mean, unless it was a charity screening for rich people and admission was like half a million per person... (Reply to this) |
on Jan 07 2008 05:06 PM Does another rank-*** American re-make of an Asian horror, bombing really surprise anyone anymore? Why bother? (Reply to this) |
on Jan 07 2008 05:12 PM Well as long as these horrible movies sell, then they will keep on making them. I'm starting to wonder if the public will learn the basics in marketing. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 07 2008 06:11 PM In reply to this comment (#1442009) So am I... It's like "Date Movie" and "Not Another Teen Movie" and "Scary Movie" and "Epic Movie"...and then they tried to do "The Comebacks" and "Meet the Spartans"...they just keep on makin' 'em because the majority of the viewers are teenagers without a brain in their heads. These movies are so bad they make "Norbit" look great in comparison. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 07 2008 06:29 PM Well no suprise here. Totally saw this coming. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 07 2008 07:14 PM It's surprising that any movie has 0% anymore. Usually you can count on one or two self-serving internet hacks with low expectations to give it a "so bad it's good" or "is better than it has any right to be" kind of review. You know, just to see their name on the Tomatometer. BTW, most RT critics must have photos of somebody at RT doing something incriminating, or must be doing somebody at RT some -ahem- favours. I can write better reviews if I tape the idle conversation of teens at the multiplex, write them up and send them in as official "reviews." If the standards of RT are any indication, anyone who can articulate an opinion of a movie and arrogantly call himself a "critic" should qualify. By widening the net to include what are essentially marginal internet bloggers, RT ratings are slowly losing their sway. The Tomatometer needs to ditch at least half of it's critics in order to represent those who have experience, intelligence, perspective and originality. (Reply to this) |
on Jan 07 2008 08:01 PM I dont think the problem is the critics, the problem is really that there are endless bad movies being made left and right. (Reply to this) |
on Jan 07 2008 08:12 PM owned. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 07 2008 09:14 PM most good horror films and comedies these days are rated r. all of the crap pg13 comedy spoofs and all the pg13 j-horror allows all the teens and tweens to have something to watch on friday night date nights, so of course these will keep making enough money to be considered "successes". prom night looks worse than this but since its pg13 and is being released during prom season...itll probably bring in some buck. sad face. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 07 2008 09:37 PM The guy that does CHUD.com's weekend overview, when talking about this weekend's box office, made the comment that One Missed Call was still sitting at 0% on RT, but that it was possible that that could change, as Maxim had yet to post THEIR review, which was pretty funny, since Maxim is one of those places where *****ty movies can get a good word based on whatever hot, useless actress makes an appearance. (Reply to this) |
on Jan 07 2008 09:40 PM ......you guys are being way to harsh. i went and saw this movie and i really liked it, in fact the people around me liked it too, this fat guy behid me was scared he stabbed his eyes out and raped the man who had already fallen asleep behind him. one of my friends committed suicide five minutes into the film becuase he was that scared...then i woke up from the dream and realized i didn't go see it.... and one wonders if any actually will (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 07 2008 10:12 PM "BTW, most RT critics must have photos of somebody at RT doing something incriminating, or must be doing somebody at RT some -ahem- favours. I can write better reviews if I tape the idle conversation of teens at the multiplex, write them up and send them in as official "reviews." If the standards of RT are any indication, anyone who can articulate an opinion of a movie and arrogantly call himself a "critic" should qualify. By widening the net to include what are essentially marginal internet bloggers, RT ratings are slowly losing their sway. The Tomatometer needs to ditch at least half of it's critics in order to represent those who have experience, intelligence, perspective and originality. " Completely agree. Some of these damn critics are scrubs, with websites that are basically "myname.com" or some **** like that. They really need to purge them. (Reply to this) |
on Jan 08 2008 12:49 AM I went to go see this movie with a friend and this movie sucke GIANT BALLS! The leading actress isnt actually that bad but the plot and dialogue is just stupid. Luckily I got a gift card for christmas to the theater so I didnt spend any real money (close one). But seriously they need to stop making these stupid remakes of asian horror films, they are absolutely stupid and unentertaining. Tap some new resources or something, I'm sure most people on here have some original ideas we should all just write a damn good horror movie. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 08 2008 03:29 AM In reply to this comment (#1442664) N720MF: I think when even the no-name critics are slicing and dicing OMC, something's up. :) (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 08 2008 05:24 AM ZERO percent? now i'm going to see this...i hope its as bad as they say. and seriously, can we make it a law not to use "...OF THE YEAR!" until March at the earliest. EVERYTHING is going to be "...of the year!" right now, its barely the second week of January. "best reviewed movie of the year!"? wow...really, it competed with 3 other ones and its the best...PHEW, i'm sold! (Reply to this) |
on Jan 08 2008 05:47 AM The real tragedy here is the once impressive talent of Ed Burns. I saw him in the commercial and I did a double-take, saying 'naah, that can't be Ed Burns, who wrote, produced, directed and starred in an independent, highly-acclaimed and entirely dude-friendly film like 'The Brothers McMullen' in the 90's. That's gotta be somebody else... Wow. How the potentially mighty have fallen. Other than that, I agree with most posters here; it should surprise EXACTLY NO ONE that another re-tread of a schlocky Japanese movie is a) worthy of suck and b) doing some kind of business among the retarded masses. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 08 2008 06:54 AM i guess audio science sossamon isn't getting that home recording set-up he wanted. sorry, mommy made another flop. if that crazy skank's career hadn't already been over for six years, I'd say this movie just killed it. edward burns, i don't even want to hear your excuses. this is worse than 'five towns' (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 08 2008 08:22 AM Why did this movie make $12.5 million? The only theories I can come up with... 1) It was the only major new movie to open last Friday, so some people will always show up for that. Yet it still came in 5th or 6th? 2) There were a lot of films that opened during the holiday weeks, and a lot of people went to those films? I saw about 4 or 5 during that period myself. So while waiting for some of these limited release films to come out (There Will Be Blood), some find themselves starved for entertainment. Personally, I will not be seeing OMC. I'll find something else to do. (Reply to this) |
on Jan 08 2008 09:01 AM I'm happy to say that I am not on of the chumps who forked out cash for this disaster. I instead took my wife to see JUNO and thoroughly enjoyed it myself. I had seen the original Takashi Miike film and wasn't impressed enough to want to see a watered down rehash of the same material. I think the well has run dry. Time to move on Hollywood. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 08 2008 10:39 AM I work at a movie theater, and while I don't understand why someone would come back and see "I Am Legend" for a fourth time, I AM happy that they're coming back to see something they liked, rather than just see something that looks like crap, just because it's new. Some folks don't understand that it's actually OK to see movies that are over a week old, that your choices aren't limited to just the 2 movies that came out this week. It's nice to see a movie like "One Missed Call" underperform, as most of the money that those PG-13 horror flicks make is completely undeserved. On opening weekend, particularly Friday nights, the audience is usually made up of mostly teenagers that aren't old enough to drive, that get dropped off by mom or dad for 2 hours, that are there to just hang out with their friends, which typically means that they're in and out of the theater a good half a dozen times or so. (Reply to this) |
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